The Army of Black and White
by Dumpling Dragon
Summary: Po's biological father invites him to the new Panda Village. The warriors from the Valley of Peace have no idea how many hearts will get broken during the upcoming meeting. It's some kind of KFP 3, but with Pofu and some other pairings.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.** **I own only the OCs.**

* * *

**_Prologue_**

Po had always been amazed at how kung fu changes people. He was fascinated only by the warriors, that had remained the good ones, of course. Usually, they were so common, as everybody. Some of them were mysterious, slightly introverted, while the others were even more playful, sociable or gentle than the most of their society. But when it came to fight - they would become completely different - like demons of war - focused, unstoppable, fierce and... graceful.

That is why he had a really hard time learning from Master Shifu how to fight during their first training. Every blow he showed him made Po's heart beat faster. The red panda's fast and firm moves, the shape of his paws, the easiness with which he used his body were enchanting. The panda tried hard not to blush and stare at Shifu like a teenager having a crush.

He hoped Master Shifu didn't notice that. Well, he did notice, but never talked with Po about that. At first, he was confused. Then irritated, abashed and in the course of time - he came to like Po. The panda truly appreciated the things he had been taught and Shifu himself learned some things from his newest student. He realised that in his life he had had his family, his master, foster children and finally his students. But he had never had a friend. Po was the closest thing to a friend he had met. Why? Because Po somehow never treated Shifu like his master, but more like a friend. And even if the red panda tried to think of him as one of his students, it was almost impossible. Things got even more odd, when he started to have strange dreams about their closeness with each other...


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.** **I own only the OCs.**

* * *

Master Shifu had a dream.  
_Po was embracing him and the red panda gazed into his eyes with such peace and happiness he had never felt before. It was almost an unearthly feeling.__The distance between their faces was decreasing and Shifu closed his eyes waiting for Po's lips to kiss him._  
An abrupt gong reverberated outside. Shifu opened his eyes and saw the ceiling in his room. The annoying sound rang again. He tried to recognize it for a good few seconds. Then the scary conclusion hit him. _I've overslept!_ _For the first time in my life!_

The Furious Five and even the Dragon Warrior stood on the doorsteps of their rooms. They were surprised not to hear the usual 'Good morning, students' after their legendary 'Good morning, Master'. The warriors exchanged looks. Monkey chuckled.

"He has overslept!" he whispered to his comrades with a wide smile on his face. Viper giggled.

Po yawned, rubbing his eyes. "What's the big deal? I oversleep everyday and nothing wrong has happened so far."

"Well, you're not Shifu. He's never overslept." Crane added.

"Until this day!" Monkey and Mantis said at the same time, high-fiving.

"Wait." Mantis started anxious. "What if he's d..."

"Mantis!" Tigress glared at him. She wanted to said something more, but Master Shifu ran into the corridor with the fur on his head dishevelled.

"I was meditating." he explained, combing his fur with his fingers.

Soon, they went to the kitchen for breakfast, along with Shifu (blushing with shame) and Mantis (who was trying not to chuckle like a moron for the whole morning).

* * *

They left the bunkhouse. It was a warm, spring day. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing slightly, so Master Shifu suggested his students Tai Chi in the Training Hall courtyard instead of overexerting themselves with their routine training. The warriors were performing the slow, peaceful moves of the meditative gymnastics.

"Po, wake up..." Master Shifu murmured, not opening his eyes, nor stopping his moves.

The panda, standing still with his hands stretched up and forward, opened his eyes and started doing the forms again.

Some shadow obscured the sunshine for half a second. Tigress's eyes opened and she lifted her head. A big, white bird nosedived towards the warriors. The feline braced herself. As the bird was close to them, she swung her tail. She ducked and sprung up highly, somersaulted in mid-air to avoid hitting Viper, caught the intruder by the wings and landed, pinning the bird to the ground. The warriors jumped up startled as they heard the abrupt noise.

"Who is our visitor?" Master Shifu asked calmly opening his eyes and finishing the form he was doing.

The bird looked at Tigress with fear, as if the feline were a savage. "Stooop! I'm a messenger!" she panted out. "I have a letter... to you all."

* * *

The messenger was a female white heron. Her legs were thin and very long, just as her neck was. Her feathers were snowy white and her beak was yellow and shorter than Crane's. She was just beautiful and her good looks wasn't ignored by the avian warrior; his beak dropped in admiration. Tigress closed his beak with her finger. The messenger looked at Po with a strange excitement.

"Grand Master Shifu, Dragon Warrior, masters. It is an honor to meet you. My name is Heron." she bowed, when she had gotten up.

"What an original name..." Mantis whispered to Monkey bowing, but Heron heard that. She looked at them disorientated.

"I am serious.."

"Who sent you?" asked Shifu.

She took the scroll that had been attached to her leg and handed it to Shifu. "Grand Master Heng."

The red panda raised his eyebrow. "Never heard of him." He unrolled the parchment and started to read aloud.

_Honourable Warriors of the Jade Palace,_

_I never expected I would write a letter like this one._  
_My name is Heng. Many years ago, I survived Lord Shen's genocide against the giant pandas from the village near Gongmen City. When I fought Shen's wolves, my wife and son tried to escape. As it turned out later - they probably had been killed. A very few of the pandas managed to survive and hide far north west of there._  
_The pandas chose me as their leader. As years passed, we built a small, self-sufficient village somewhere in the Emei Mountains, isolated from the rest of the world. I started a small palace and trained every willing panda in kung fu._  
_I spent many years meditating and about nine months ago I had a vision of my son defeating a peacock. I sent my trusted scout to gather informations about Shen and this is how we learned about the prophecy of the Warrior of Black and White and Shen's defeat. Soon, thanks to Heron, we found out that the foretold savior and the Dragon Warrior from the Jade Palace are in fact the same person and - most likely - my son._  
_I am inviting you all to our new Panda Village, sending you Heron, who knows the way. I am fully aware you have never heard about me before, but I must count on your trust._

_Master Heng_

The warriors stood stunned. Po looked as if he were a statue with his widened eyes. Shifu stared at the parchment, analyzing its content.

"My father..." the panda said quietly. "is... alive?! And he's a master?!" He started to giggle nervously. When the first shock diminished a little, the warriors looked at one another.

Monkey let out a sigh and blinked. "WOW. Now it's obvious why you learn so fast."

Shifu looked at Po's growing excitement in his eyes. "May I have a word with you?"

* * *

Po and Shifu entered the Training Hall.

"Po, seriously, calm. down."

"Why? There's a possibility that my father is still alive and.. he's a master, even a grandmaster.. and I've always dreamed of it... are you concerned about that?"

"You can't believe every person who just comes to the Palace and claims to be your father's messenger. Anybody can write such a letter."

The panda's face saddened and he leaned against the wall, sighing. "I didn't think of that..."

"I don't exclude that your father might have survived the genocide but we have to make sure that no one is trying to lead you into a trap."

Po really believed for a while that he wasn't the sole survivor. "The author mentioned the moment I had remembered in the Panda Village. How could he know that my father had fought the wolves while my mother had tried to save me?"

"That's not a proof. I'm sorry to say this, but don't raise your hopes too high." It hurt Shifu to tell Po such things, especially when the panda had already managed to believe the happy news, but he would rather sadden him than let him get hurt.

They returned to the courtyard.

"Well, Heron. I'll send Zeng to verify..."

Crane waved his wings frantically. "Why Zeng? I can fly with Heron, we'll return faster and-" he stopped when the Five chuckled knowingly and the female sent him a shy, but cute smile.

* * *

(A.N.) Heng (Chin. eternal)


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.** **I own only the OCs.**

* * *

Crane and Heron set off assuring Master Shifu and the Five that they would be back in five days at the latest. So the warriors waited with growing curiosity. Shifu advised Po against telling Mr. Ping about the letter too early.  
Po had a hard time trying to focus on his training and he started to worry about Crane, when the fifth day came and his friend still wasn't back.

And finally, when Shifu, Po and the rest of the Five were eating dinner, Crane and Heron ran into the kitchen.

"I saw them! I saw the pandas!" Crane panted out. "Po, I talked to your father!"

Po almost fainted holding his chopsticks in his shaking paw. The warriors started to talk excited.

"I must tell my dad!" the panda scrambled to his feet. "What are we waiting for?"

Monkey laughed loudly.

"Po, do you really think that we can just pack up our backpacks and leave on vacation?" Tigress asked him.

"I know, I know. Somebody has to take care of the Valley of Peace. Do we have a replacement?"

"Not here." said Shifu not showing any signs of joy. "Now I must send six letters requesting for help to some other palaces. I don't know how long it would take the new warriors to arrive at here. Prepare for a next few days of waiting."

But Po was happy. Nervous, but excited. The panda, along with his friends started to question Crane and Heron about Master Heng.

"What is he like?"

"Does he look like older Po?"

"Tell us something about the Village."

"How large is his palace?"

The avians didn't tell them too much. Crane didn't want to spoil the surprise.

Shifu, somehow thoughtful, left the kitchen to write the letters. Soon, he gave them to Zeng and the goose set off.

* * *

Later on, Po went to Mr. Ping's restaurant and told him everything he had to leave unsaid for a few previous days. Although he goose was shocked, he tried to show Po that he was as pleased with the news as his son, but after Po's leaving, he couldn't smile anymore. Anyway, he had promised to go with him and the warriors to the Panda Village, for it had been Po's wish.

Two days later, Master Jaguar from the Emerald Palace arrived. Po involuntarily welcomed him with his 'Awesome!' The warriors had a great time talking with their new comrade. The next day, Jaguar was training with them, when Master Boar from the Onyx Palace entered the arena. In the next days Masters Sheep and Cobra from the Azure and Amethyst Palace joined them. The warriors from the Jade Palace moved into the other quarters systematically to make more room for the new masters and at the end of the week, Master Eagle and Master Rat arrived together, because the avian warrior spotted Rat on his way to the Valley of Peace.

When Po saw that the Pearl Palace had sent them a rat, he started to laugh and the angry rodent together with Mantis... well, they explained to him (not exactly in a peaceful way) that tiny warriors could be as dangerous as the biggest ones. Sheep and Viper had to bring the panda to his consciousness lifting the nerve attacks on him after the fight.

Monkey and Mantis tried to ask Crane if something had happened during his travel with Heron, but he only revolted against their comments claiming that he wasn't like them, giving them more reasons to snicker.

* * *

Mr. Ping tried not to admit to himself that he was jealous. He had been Po's father for almost his entire life. But now he knew why Po had always dreamed of kung fu. It was always in his blood. The goose felt somehow guilty that for so many years he tried to drive Po to cooking and running the restaurant. Po could love noodles, dumplings and tofu, but now Ping understood how boring and tiring his family business seemed to be compared to kung fu.

As for Shifu, he felt odd. For many years he had believed that giant pandas were very peaceful creatures and that was why they had been killed off. That they were anything but warriors. He thought that Po had become such a great warrior thanks to his teaching.. Now he wondered why Master Oogway had entrusted him the leadership in the Jade Palace if he knew so little about Po's compatriots.

He was jealous too. But he would never admit even to himself that he wanted to be Po's only mentor... forever. That was his only way to be someone special to him. And suddenly one letter arrived and changed everything. Even if he had thought earlier that Po's parents were still alive, he would have never imagined them as kung fu masters. _Someone will be closer to Po from now on... _he thought and shuddered, thinking how shallow his feelings were.

Shifu found himself approaching Po's room and stood at the door. The panda was packing up his clothes and other things, such as the plush panda toy he had found in the ruins of his family home. He stopped, holding the Dragon Scroll in his hand. Shifu tried to be happy as Po was and pondered on something. He didn't hear when Po asked him a question.

"...or would you rather keep it here in the Jade Palace?" Po asked again after a moment.

"What?.."

"The Dragon Scroll. I'd like to take it to the Panda Village and show it to my father."

Shifu didn't answer. _...but his happiness is more important, isn't it?_

Po saddened a little. "You think it's stupid?.."

The red panda smiled warmly. "No. I think it's a great idea."


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.** **I own only the OCs.**

* * *

The warriors were ready to depart. Heron had warned them they would need warm clothes, for spring in the Emei Mountains was wet and cool. Master Jaguar had been chosen as the temporary master of the Jade Palace. Grand Master Shifu, Heron, Po and the other warriors dropped by Mr. Ping's restaurant and left the Valley of Peace with him. Soon they were heading southwest carrying backpacks with their clothes, food, tents, cooking tools and other things such as blankets, Master Oogway's staff and the Dragon Scroll.

Crane and Heron led the way talking with each other and the female avian listened to Crane attentively, nodding, fluttering her eyelashes and laughing at his jokes.

"I'm gonna vomit." Viper said finally.

Po looked at her somehow surprised. "Why, don't you like her?"

She didn't answer. "Woow, someone is getting jealous in our team." Mantis teased with a sly grin. Monkey chuckled and glanced at Tigress.

"What, you're feeling like puking too?"

"Not at all."

"So why are you sulking all the time since you saw her?"

The feline sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I don't know. There's something strange about her."

"Relax, Tigress. Po's father knows her, she can't be such bad, hm?"

Mr. Ping, who walked with Shifu at the end, heard Monkey's statement. He hadn't been much talkative since he learned about the letter. Now he saddened even more. Shifu noticed it.

"Mr. Ping?... How are you feeling?"

The goose made a face. "Do you really need to ask?" he sighed. "I know, I should be happy. But I'd never expected to meet Po's real parents. Everything is happening so fast."

Shifu listened to his words silently. Po and the Five laughed at Monkey's joke.

"...but how can I be happy being afraid at the same time that Po will get fascinated by his new family and never come back to our Valley?"

"Po would never leave us!" Shifu assured immediately. "I mean... your fears are understandable. There were always only you two..."

"...and noodles."

Shifu chuckled. "...and noodles."

"You know... It was hard for me when Po moved to the Palace, but I knew that his dreams of kung fu were coming true. Now he has everything he has always been dreaming of and.. I'm afraid there will be no more place for me in his life." Mr. Ping confided finally.

Shifu felt something strange. He realised that his thoughts had been dangerously similar when he learned that the new Panda Village really existed. _What if he's right?..._ he thought and shook his head. "Po is more loyal than you think. I'm sure he will never leave us."

"I wish I could believe this, Master Shifu."

* * *

They pitched camp on some hill above a picturesque town. Tigress made a campfire and they ate some dumplings Po had taken from the restaurant. It got dark so Mr. Ping, Heron and the Five crawled into the tents to get enough sleep before the next day.

Po stayed by the fire and gazed at the flames. Shifu returned from his evening meditation and found him there. "Is something on your mind?" he brought the panda out of his reverie.

"I'm wondering... what if he won't come to like me?"

The red panda looked up at him surprised. "Why are you saying that?.."

"I was so happy when we were leaving the Valley. Now I'm shaking from stress and feeling like crying."

Shifu's ears pressed against his head. He pondered on something for a short moment and finally placed his paw on Po's arm. "Don't worry. It's gonna be OK."

The panda thought for a while that Shifu's action had been his imagination. He glanced at his master, but looked away after meeting Shifu's gaze. "I dunno. Maybe you were right and I'm an idiot."

"I never said any such thing."

"But you surely thought that." Po cracked a smile.

The red panda sighed and shook his head. That journey was harder than he had expected it would be. "Even if he doesn't like you straightaway, I'm certain he will take to you someday." _Just as I have..._

Po finally smiled genuinely, looking at the flames. "I'm glad that you're here with me."


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.** **I own only the OCs.**

* * *

A week had passed since they had left the Valley of Peace. As they were closer to the mountains, the air was becoming cooler in the morning, evening and night.

"You see those mountains? By tomorrow afternoon we'll be in the village finally." Heron said, when they approached the last river on their way. "It is hard to travel through the last part of the way by foot, so you need to be well rested. I'd suggest to pitch camp here and-"

"Yeah!" the Five let out a collective shout of joy.

"Fortunately, because my legs are falling off!" Monkey said relieved.

"I'm awfully hungry." Po added. "Who wants some tea?"

"I'd like some." Viper agreed.

"Well, we had better start setting up camp." said Shifu. "Po, Monkey, take the vessels and bring some water for rice and tea."

The panda and the simian took some water from the river and everything would have gone well, if Po had been careful. The warriors with Heron, Mr. Ping and Master Shifu were going away, when Po slipped on wet rocks on the riverbank and slammed hard into the ground. Monkey's abrupt laughter resounded throughout the whole vicinity. Shifu froze.

Mr. Ping rushed towards Po. "Are you OK, son?!"

The Five helped the panda to stand up asking him if he was alright and making funny comments about his fall.

"Sorry, Shifu." Po said sheepishly and they looked at the grand master.

Shifu shook his hands forcefully. He was soaked in the icy water Po had been carrying.

* * *

The travellers were asleep in their tents. They had eaten supper, trying not to piss Shifu off more than he already was. Viper fell asleep around the fire to keep her warm. Mantis was too sleepy to go to the tent, so he fell asleep leaning against Viper's neck. Shifu's robes hung on a makeshift clothesline near the bonfire. The red panda, dressed in his white sleep robe, and wrapped up in his blanket sat by the fire, shivering with cold. Po felt guilty for drenching the master in cold water.

"Master Shifu..." he started unsurely. "Would you like more hot tea?"

"G-g-get.. l-lost."

Po wasn't going to give up. "I've just got an idea... You know... I have a wide 'heating surface' " he joked. "And... You can.. snuggle up to me.."

Shifu looked at him bewildered. For a moment he had no idea what to say. He hoped that Viper and Mantis were fast asleep. "Are you aware of what you have just offered me?..."

Po blushed and lowered his gaze. "Sorry."

Shifu lay down and tried to fall asleep. Po waited, wondering how to help him. _Life is too short to suffer unnecessarily._ he thought after about ten minutes. Hoping that Shifu was already asleep, he lay down behind the red panda and embraced him trying not to wake him up. Master Shifu's eyes widened. He didn't know what to do, but when Po's warmth made him stop shivering, he decided to pretend to be asleep. But when he managed to fall asleep for real, (it wasn't too easy, for he heard Po's loud heartbeat) he unawarely turned over and snuggled up to the panda.

* * *

At dawn, Shifu woke up hoping that no one had seen him in Po's fond embrace and escaped his arms. Soon, the warriors and the birds got up and slowly started to prepare breakfast.

"Great. Now I smell like a victim of conflagration." Shifu said dismally after putting on his robes.

His students and Heron chuckled.

"You always smell nice, Master Shifu." Po said somehow spontaneously.

Monkey couldn't help but whistle at Po's comment.

"Monkey!" Crane sent him a horryfied look, seeing Shifu's meaningful expression.

"What? It's not a secret that Po has a really huge crush on Master Shifu..." Mantis commented.

Po and Shifu got petrified for a moment. Hundreds of dreadful thoughts ran through their minds.

_Did he hear us?  
He saw us?!  
Oh shit!  
How could he say that in their presence?!  
Does he really feel something towards me?..  
Gosh, my dad is here!  
Are my feelings so visible?!  
Say something!_

"What does it mean?" the goose asked feeling somehow strange.

"You know, Mr. Ping, Po always repeat 'awesome', even talking about Master Shifu." the insect explained lightheartedly.

Tigress yawned. "Spare us your 'deep' morning reflections. We had better go further." she said looking up at the mountains.

The pandas let out a small sigh of relief.

* * *

They were struggling through the mountains as the day was getting brighter. The way was narrow and very quiet. There were pine trees here and there, mist and large rocks. The warriors sometimes thought that there was no way and no village behind it, for the trail didn't look like a trail, but more like a random pass leading to nowhere. As they were going further and up into the mountains, Shifu and Mr. Ping were getting more tired, for their legs weren't doing well on such trips. Meanwhile, Po was more stressed with every step he made. He didn't say a word wondering what would happen when he finally saw his biological father, whereas the Five walked forward, talking and laughing. Crane and Heron led them chatting and the female called him 'Master Crane' everytime. Viper somehow wasn't too pleased to listen to that.

Po sighed and sat heavily on one of the rocks. "I'm so hungry!" he said exasperated.

Monkey rolled his eyes. "Again?"

"I always eat much when I'm stressed out. I didn't expect it would be so far away."

"There's no need to stop now. We've arrived." Heron said, standing on the top of another rock before them. "Look. This is the Hideout." she pointed at someplace down. They approached the place, where the mountains suddenly ended and gasped astonished.

There was a peaceful, green valley among the misty steep slopes. Giant pandas were working on the rice terraces stretched around, a river flowed from the waterfall on the western mountain through the middle of the valley and weeping willows grew along it. Groups of bamboo thickets hid the pandas' scattered huts and houses. There in the valley was warmer than in the mountains, so little pandas played in front of their houses, but stood with their mouth agape when the strange travelers with heavy backpacks entered the main path. Some of the children ran to their houses and peeked the strange creatures through the windows for they had never seen tigers, monkeys, vipers, geese, red pandas and mantises. The warriors and Mr. Ping couldn't stop looking around as if the village were a dream. For the first time in his life, Po felt so... average. The adult pandas with rice hats on their heads looked at them as surprised as their children, whispering among themselves.

The warriors went led by Heron to the grassy hill on the north side of the valley. There was a big building atop. It was hard to call it a palace, but that was surely the biggest building in the village; wooden, oblong, two-storey with a bathhouse in a bamboo thicket and a large backyard garden of cherry trees starting to bloom and a chapel made of trees on the neighbouring hill, as a place for meditation.

They finally approached the building. Some panda dressed in a light violet robe was sitting on the bench in front of the house, but she escaped inside noticing the strangers and soon she went outside along with three other pandas- every one of them was bigger than Po.

Heron, Mr. Ping and the warriors from the Valley of Peace stood in front of the pandas from the 'Palace'. The biggest one of them, dressed in a green cloak stepped forth. He was older, but looked similar to Po, his eyes were green as Po's were and he was looking at the Dragon Warrior with an expression hard to describe. Po wasn't sure what he should do or say. He realised that he hadn't prepared himself for the meeting. So he did the only thing that came to his mind: he bowed to the giant panda. Finally he straightened up, afraid that he had done something wrong.

"Yu?..." the elder panda spoke looking deep into the younger one's eyes. Suddenly, he embraced Po. The warriors from the Valley of Peace looked surprised by such an abrupt public affection.

"M-my.. name is Po..." the smaller panda managed to say in the tight embrace.

The big panda looked at him again, with a beaming smile and paws rested on the Dragon Warrior's shoulders. "Po?.. It sounds better."

* * *

(A.N.) Po's original name Yu (Chin. happy/jade/honor/rain). I gave him such a name, because I couldn't find a name more suitable for Po after seeing this description. I've found more meanings of this name though, and the meaning and gender seems to depend on the used characters. I've found different informations on various websites with names, for example: Yu is a unisex name or... a feminine name. x_x no. comments.


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.** **I own only the OCs.**

* * *

Grand Master Heng invited them inside. The Furious Five, their master and Mr. Ping introduced themselves. The three younger pandas were so much excited about meeting Grand Master Shifu himself and the Dragon Warrior that their master had to remind them to tell the warriors who they were. So Heng's students bowed to them introducing themselves.

"Master Chen." that was the younger male, dressed in a short, dark yellow robe.

"Master Ming." she was the female warrior with dark blue eyes, in the violet dress.

"Master Tai Lung." said the taller male.

Shifu's heart stopped for a second and he looked at the young giant panda stunned. He expected that his words were a sick joke.

Mantis burst out laughing. "That's funny, because.."

The warriors were as surprised as the grand master. Mantis stopped laughing seeing Shifu's expression. "Nevermind."

Tai Lung looked at them confused. "Did I do something wrong?"

* * *

The pandas invited them to the main hall. Everyone sat at the long table and slowly started to talk. They were awkwardly shy, but soon they were talking about hundreds of matters. Master Heng learned about Po's memories from the old Panda Village and how his son had defeated Lord Shen. The grand master had no idea what had happened to his wife. He told Po that his mother's name had been Ru and Po told him how she had died. Heng wasn't happy thinking once again of the death of his beloved wife, but for the whole afternoon he gazed at Po with such an emotion as if he were a ghost of his dead son. He wasn't surprised by Ru's sacrifice, for he knew how much she had loved their son.

Mr. Ping told the elder panda how he had found little Yu in a box of radishes and gave him a name and home. The Five and the pandas laughed at the funny stories about little Po (who now facepalmed epically), that Mr. Ping had told them. Heng couldn't stop thanking him for what he had done for their son. His gratefulness surprised the old goose, who comparing himself to a kung fu master felt inferior to him in the beginning.

Soon, the giant pandas told the travelers from the Valley about their life in the Hideout. It was surprising to Po and the Five that the Hideout had only three warriors and their teacher and the giant pandas suddenly started laughing. It turned out that Master Heng had forgotten to write in his letter about the academy that was hidden in the mountains. Earlier, he had been teaching pandas there, but when the number of his students had grown, he had moved to the 'Tea Palace' (how Ming had named the warriors' house in the Hideout). About twenty pandas lived now and trained at the academy in order to return to their families in the village after finishing their training. Master Heng didn't want the pandas to be helpless again in case of another attack. Chen, Tai Lung and Ming were his best students and became some kind of the Furious Three to live in the village and watch over it every day.

The Five couldn't judge how good the panda warriors were, for they had never fought any bandits before. Nobody knew about the Hideout.

Except for Heron. She had joined the Panda Village a few months earlier and she had become Master Heng's 'window on the world' outside so it was obvious that when her master had had his vision of his son, she had to be the one to find him and bring him to the hidden village.

Master Heng and his students wanted to know how Po had gotten the legendary Dragon Scroll and soon they started talking about the Five's accomplishments.

But it was impossible to tell about Grand Master Oogway's death, Shifu's hard beginning with Po, about the Scroll and the Five without mentioning Tai Lung the snow leopard.

* * *

Shifu was being reticent since he had heard the familiar name and Po noticed that. The red panda excused himself from the table and went outside not to listen about the snow leopard and his deeds. And his fate. He sat thoughtful on the bench in front of the Palace. After a moment Po came to him.

"Panda? Are you still worried about the meeting? It wasn't such bad."

Po sat down beside the red panda. "No. I'm worried about you. Everyone saw you reaction on his name."

Shifu sighed looking away. "What happened to my son is only my problem and I must deal with it myself."

Po felt really bad about what he had done to Tai Lung. The truth was that he knew that he must have hurt Shifu by killing his son. Even though Shifu had never told him that, he knew. And even though he knew that he had done what had been necessary, he had spent many days and nights with a feeling as if he had killed his own brother. Nevertheless, there was one thing that gave him some comfort and he decided to finally tell Shifu something he had been keeping to himself for too long.

"Master, there is something I haven't told you..." Po said playing with his fingers nervously.

Shifu looked at him interested.

"Do you know why I... used the Wuxi Finger Hold on him?" the student asked with something strange in his voice.

Shifu wasn't sure where the conversation was going. "Of course I know. You had to make sure the Valley was safe. At all cost."

"That's true... but I wasn't thinking of the whole village in that moment." Po thought it would be improper to avoid the red panda's sight longer so he finally looked into his eyes. "I thought of you."

Shifu wasn't replying, looking back at him, with his heart beating fast, so after a short moment of silence Po took the opportunity to hold his paw. "I'm sorry for doing that to him, but.. I did that, because I wouldn't get over your death."

Shifu squeezed Po's fingers in his grip waiting for the words he needed so much.

The panda lowered his gaze and blushed. "Master, I think I... I-"

"Master Shifu, Po! There you are!" Mr. Ping appeared in front of the building rousing the two pandas from their focus. They quickly disconnected their paws.

"Time to eat something at last. Master Heng and his students want to show us our rooms."

* * *

(A.N.) Ru (Chin. scholar), I gave her that name, because I saw a Chinese girl called Ru on TV one day and I liked her very much.  
Ming (Chin. bright/shining/tomorrow), for some reason, when I want to type 'mind' I type 'ming' so I just had to use that name.  
Chen (Chin. great/pure or true man, morning), such a nice, short name.  
oof, at least I hope their names mean what I've written because the meaning seems to depend on the website, lol.


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.** **I own only the OCs.**

* * *

During the next few days Heron shared her room with Tigress, Ming and Viper, Tai Lung gave his room to Shifu, the male warriors shared one room, but Po and Mr. Ping received Chen's. Grand Master Heng stayed in his own, of course.

The panda students quickly came to like the Five and Ming was enthused by Tigress and Viper. Tai Lung felt somehow strange after he had learned about Master Shifu's son, however the relations between them all were better than everyone had expected. Ming and Chen were funny young warriors and they were curious about the world outside. Especially Monkey and Mantis enjoyed their company. Tai Lung, a bit older than his friends, appeared to be more serious and didn't talk too much.

Po still felt strange about having two fathers. He asked Heng a lot of questions about their family and Ru and they spent much time talking about her. Po learned how his parents had met and how funny and clumsy his mother used to be sometimes. But that was why Heng had fallen in love with her.

Now Po knew from who he had inherited his qualities and appearance. Those days were still a little stressful and unreal to him. Thanks to his goose father he had never felt like an orphan, but now he felt a different panda than before; he had some past and a biological family (at least his father), he was no longer a panda that had appeared out of nowhere, alone.

And though Po liked his biological father and was fascinated by him, it was difficult for him to call him 'Dad.' He was still 'Master Heng'. Po found out that his teacher - Master Lao - had been one of Master Oogway's students for a short time and he had been killed in the genocide.

As the warriors talked with the inhabitants of the Hideout, it turned out that life in the village not always was so idyllic. Many of the pandas had gotten lost in the mountains, especially in the past few months. Master Heng's students had been looking for them every time, unfortunately in vain. "Mountains are our friends and home, but they can also be a dangerous enemy." the Grand Master used to say.

He planned a feast in honor of his son- the Dragon Warrior, his foster father and their friends, so he decided to call some servants from the academy to prepare something special for the next day. He told Heron to fly to the school early in the morning.

* * *

Chen, Tai and Ming went with Shifu and his students for a walk to show them the village. They walked in a loose group down the long paths and through the low bridges across the river. The inhabitants, instead of being suspicious like on the first day, smiled to them. When the warriors were talking, suddenly someone bumped into Po. It was a young female panda in a light blue dress embroidered with red flowers.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"Master Po?" She looked at Po abashed and lowered her eyes. "I'm very sorry, I wasn't careful."

Suddenly a taller female panda in a light green dress approached her.

"Hey, you don't need to be sorry... wait, how do you know my name?" he looked confused at the girls.

"Everyone here knows who our hero is. Chen told us about you, Master Po. It is an honor to meet you." the older girl bowed to him.

Po blushed a bit. He felt strange when somebody addressed him like that. "Just call me Po. Who are you?"

"My name is Misumi..." said the younger female.

"Misumi? Strange name.."

She laughed shortly. "My parents are crazy about Japan."

Shifu turned around as his sensitive ears caught the laughter. He saw Po with the girls and the cute smile Misumi was sending Po. Anger boiled up in the red panda when he saw how Po looked back at her.  
Po wanted to say something when someone cut him short.

"Misumi, Li Mei!" Chen ran towards them and Shifu walked away. "I see you've met our friends, Po." he smiled. "Hey, I've just got an idea. Master Heng wants us to attend a feast with the teachers from the academy tomorrow. How about a little 'afterparty' before we die of boredom?"

Po looked confused. "After-what?"

"I'm not sure, your master wasn't pleased after our... " Li Mei chuckled amused a bit."...last contest."

Misumi rolled her eyes. "Chill out."

"What contest?"

"You'll see, Po." Chen assured and looked around. "We have to go back to the others." he said to the girls. "I'll bring Po, Ming and Tai tomorrow evening." he patted Po's back forcefully. "Someone has to show you our capabilities."

The girls walked away and Misumi winked at Po, smiling playfully. "Sake!"

* * *

(A.N.) Master Lao - guess who was the inspiration.  
Misumi (Jap. pure beauty)**  
**Li Mei (Chin. beautiful plum blossom).


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.** **I own only the OCs.**

* * *

Mr. Ping insisted on his help in preparing the feast and when the goose insisted on something, no one could refuse him. Master Heng had to agree.

Heron was twitchy for all day long. Crane asked her what had happened, but she just gave him a poor explanation and disappeared somewhere, so he joined the Five in their training.

When Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Crane and Viper were sparring with Chen and Ming in the garden, Tai Lung asked Shifu a bit shyly for some tips to improve his kung fu. Although the red panda felt odd teaching a giant panda again, furthermore, named Tai Lung, he liked him. He came to like giant pandas. He remembered the first day, when he had met Po. He had been so angry with him and didn't want to see how good a panda could be as a warrior, having a good teacher.

In one moment, while training with Tai, he laughed inwardly. How could he feel indignant that Master had chosen a panda, believing at the same time that he was the future Dragon Warrior's teacher? If a red panda could teach the Dragon Warrior, the Dragon Warrior could be as well a giant panda.

* * *

Master Heng meditated in the chapel when someone's steps disturbed his focus. He looked over his shoulder. "Po? What happened?"

"Sorry to bother you, but I forgot to show you this." he sat beside his father and handed him the Dragon Scroll.

The older panda unrolled the scroll and smiled gazing at its golden surface for a long moment. "Who would have thought that my little Yu would become the legendary warrior?"

"Phh, the Dragon Warrior.." the younger panda chuckled. "You're a grand master, Dad! It must be awesome!"

Heng looked at him astounded and a few tears welled up in his eyes. "You just called me 'Dad'."

Po looked back at him unsurely. "Well, you _are _my dad, aren't you?"

"I am. And I'm so proud of you, son." the grand master confirmed and gave Po a long, tight hug.

Heng examined the casing of the Scroll. "Po... there are teeth marks. Don't tell me that you tried to open the Scroll with your teeth?..."

The panda grinned chuckling nervously. Master Heng just burst out laughing.

* * *

The teachers from the academy had arrived and the warriors from the Valley of Peace were surprised even more, seeing how dignified pandas could be. They were different ages, wore different robes, but something more distinguished them from the inhabitants of the Hideout. As the warriors living and training deep in the mountains, they had become more serious and severe, a bit too much attached to old traditions. The Five and Shifu saw in them their old image, for they had become a true family after the events with Po, Master Oogway and Tai Lung.

They sat at the long table in the main room of the Palace. Shifu was thoughtful for all afternoon and he couldn't focus on the conversation with the guests. And suddenly a certain word caught his attention and he lifted his eyes from his pad thai.

"...when you _move in _here."

Shifu took a glance at the woman who had said that and at Mr. Ping; he was sitting with a look of surprise on his face, but said nothing.

"I'd.. love to, but the Valley of Peace is my home and my dad lives there, my friends and... I have a lot of duties, you know..." Po said.

Master Heng didn't look depressed. "Well, now you have friends and family here too." he cut in with a smile.

The Five looked at him disbelievingly.

"No offence Master Zhu, but Po was chosen by Grand Master Oogway as the defender of the Valley and all China. He can't just leave his village." Tigress said.

"Why not? I thought that Tai Lung and Shen had been defeated. This village needs the Dragon Warrior more than the Valley of Peace does. Right, Master Shifu?" the female panda warrior asked.

Po didn't say a word. Mr. Ping looked at Shifu with huge hope on his face. There was a moment of silence, before Shifu finally answered.

"Right..." He knew, he broke the goose's heart by saying that. The Five would never forgive him such a decision to let Po leave them.

But Zhu was right. Po had never had a chance to live with the other pandas. Master Heng was his only relative. Shifu knew, he should give Po a chance to choose, even if his choice hurt Mr. Ping, the Five and him. He didn't say anything after his hurtful agreement and stared into his plate enough long to excuse himself from the table, not rising suspicions that he was feeling resentful.

He went upstairs to his room, saying that he had a headache. He felt even more sad, being in his quiet room alone. He sat down in the chair and laid his head on Tai's desk.

Po was sad, still sitting at the table. _So he really doesn't like me. No wonder, after all those moments when I made him angry... He didn't like me when I came to the Palace, why should he like me now?_ He looked around the pandas at the table - his probably new family and thought for a moment. _No. I must talk with him first._

* * *

The door leading to Shifu's room was ajar. Po entered the room quietly. There was very dark there.

"Master, is everything all right?"

Shifu lifted his head surprised. "Ah, yes.."

Po approached him, sat down beside the chair and prepared for his important question. "Do you really think I should move out?" He didn't see the dumbfounded look Shifu sent him, so he continued. "I know, I often oversleep and I'm terribly clumsy, I devour tons of food, but I promise, I will change for you..."

"Po, what are you talking about? Everyone loves you despite your faults, or maybe even because of them."

"So... why did you say that I should stay here?"

"You can do whatever you want. Just be happy. But if you choose the Hideout.. well... I will be missing you... Much."

Po embraced the red panda gently, remembering that Shifu disliked bone-crushing hugs and sighed with relief. "Shifu, I'd never leave the Jade Palace, or you! You're very important to me... You don't even know how much..."

Shifu blushed in his hug, enjoying their closeness. He trembled, feeling Po's warm breath tickling his ears. A candle of hope lit in his heart. _No one will destroy this perfect moment. Not this time._

"Po..."

The giant panda sat down back on the floor and gazed at Shifu with attention.

"I want you to know something." the elder master placed his paw gently on Po's shoulder and tried not to faint.

"Yes, Master?"

"I'm.."

The panda felt that his master was nervous for some reason, so he waited patiently.

"I... l-"

"Po? Where are you?" Someone's voice resounded through the corridor.

Shifu facepalmed in the dark. Mantis entered Shifu's room. "Oh, Master Shifu. The teachers are leaving. We should say goodbye."

The three warriors went downstairs.

"Po, Master Shifu!" said Master Heng. "I have an idea. Would you like to see the academy tomorrow? You've never seen fighting pandas... besides Po, of course." he spoke to the Five, Po, Shifu and Mr. Ping.

"Tomorrow?.." Heron cut in nervously.

"Why not?"

"What's the hurry? Our guests are on a vacation, but there's no need to overexert them with attractions."

"Well... how about the day after tomorrow?"

"It would be great." the Five agreed.

"As you wish, Master Heng." the teachers bowed and soon they left the house.

Chen yanked Po's arm and pulled him outside.

* * *

Shifu couldn't sleep that night. He was sure, Po had to feel something towards him. And he wanted nothing more than tell Po finally how deep connection he felt with him. So many things had changed between them in the past two years. He went downstairs and outside to catch some fresh air.

There was a large weeping willow on the hill. Someone laughed under its long branches. Shifu knew that he had heard that laugh before. _Misumi?..._ He made a few more steps towards the tree and saw two pandas in the moonlight. They kissed each other. There was dark, but Shifu saw how passionate and deep the kiss was. He turned around and slowly returned to the house. _That couldn't be... He would never..._ He sat in the main room not knowing for how long, with his mind full of rushing thoughts.

Someone entered the Palace through the front door and collapsed on the floor with a noise. Shifu approached him. "Po?... where have you been?"

The panda closed the door and leaned against it, still sitting, for he could barely walk. "Master Shifu? I thought you were asleep!"

"Speak quietly."

"Got it. Stealth mode." the giant panda whispered and placed his finger on his lips. "Sshhh..."

"Are you drunk!?" the red panda narrowed his eyes. "Do you want to bring shame on your father?"

"On which one?" Po chuckled sillily. "Master... I disgraced you tonight." he said seriously. "And the Furious Five. And the whole Valley of Peace."

Shifu felt dread. "How?..."

"We had a little drinking contest... and I lost to Chen..."

Shifu ran his paw over his face and snarled. "Go to sl-"

"...but I also kissed Misumi, so the defeat wasn't too painful."

Shifu looked at him hoping he had misheard him. "What did you say?.."

Po sighed and sent him a stupid smile. "You should try it with someone from time to time, too. You wouldn't be so sexually frustra-"

He sobered up immediately when Shifu slapped him across the face. Po looked at his master in shock, clutching his cheek.

"Never.. speak to me like that again." the red panda said, not looking at the student, and trying not to cry.

But when he returned to his room, he couldn't stop his tears. He felt angry, offended and betrayed, but he could only hate himself for what he had done. Po's words were like cold water poured on his head. He wept and didn't fall asleep until dawn.

* * *

(A.N.) Zhu (Chin. bamboo)


	9. Chapter 9

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.**** I own only the OCs.**

* * *

Po woke up in the main room sad and avoided Shifu the whole morning. He explained to the goose that he had returned late and had gotten up early. Chen and Tai Lung had a huge hangover, Ming didn't, because she hadn't drunk too much. Master Heng pretended that he didn't know what his students had been doing last night, but he felt ashamed. The warriors ate breakfast with Mr. Ping and Heron and started planning their day.

Viper and Tigress wanted to see local shops and buy some souvenirs, so they went with Ming to the village. Monkey and Mantis went sightseeing and found some little, local restaurant. Chen and Tai had to stay at the Palace and clean the building all day as a punishment.

Crane asked Heron out, but she prefered to stay at the Palace. Her behaviour had become strange since the Five had arrived in the village. Her stress didn't seem to be caused by the guests. She talked to him rarely, rather ignored him, and disappeared from time to time. Crane was worried, but as a bird with such a gentle soul, he didn't want to press her to do something she didn't want to or to explain herself to him. He flew out, a bit disappointed, to catch up the girls or find Monkey and Mantis somewhere.

When everyone left the kitchen, Mr. Ping sat down with Po at the table and as he was used to that, he started preparing his legendary noodle soup for dinner. He noticed Po's sadness and was worried that Po would tell him soon 'Dad, I'm gonna stay here forever.'

"What?! Dad, how could you think that?!"

"I won't feel surprised or offended if you want to stay."

"I'm not going to. I mean... I like Master Heng, Chen, Tai and Ming, but you are my family and I can't imagine that I could ever leave you." Po assured, peeling a carrot. "The pandas have been living without me for so many years, they don't need me now. They aren't defenceless anymore. Besides... someone has to help you running the restaurant. A few days more and your patrons will forget about us." he chuckled, although he thought of something less happy.

Mr. Ping smiled at last. "I knew you were such a good boy!"

Shifu meditated in his room. Or rather tried to meditate. He couldn't stop his mind, thinking of what he had done last night.

_It was my misunderstanding.  
_

_How could I think that he felt something..._ _that he would choose me instead of.. _he blinked his tears away.

_What could I give him?.._

He let out a sad sigh. _I was so stupid._

He stood up and went downstairs. Chen and Tai were in the kitchen with Po and Mr. Ping. Shifu wanted to apologize to Po, but he decided to wait until he was alone. Shifu had never imagined to fight another of his students for real and that was why his action scared him. He sighed feeling guilty. As he was walking down the corridor, something strange came to his mind. He hadn't seen any weapon in the whole building. He wondered why.

* * *

Tigress, Viper, Ming and Crane returned from the village. The vendors they had met didn't want their money, instead, they gave them some small, charming things for free, but Tigress and Viper had to tell them a lot about the Valley of Peace. Everyone except for Monkey and Mantis sat at the table in the main room to eat dinner. Shifu felt bad seeing Po's pensiveness, but the student didn't look at him.

"Why are you sad, Po?" Master Heng asked outright. His directness wasn't surprising them anymore. It was a natural quality of every giant panda. Po was such open too. At least until the last night. Shifu felt like an idiot sitting there and knowing the truth.

"I'm not..."

Tigress didn't look convinced. "Are you sure?"

"I'm just tired, OK?"

Mantis and Monkey entered the room. "Po, you should have come with us, we found a nice place to eat, the innkeeper didn't even want our money... oh sorry, Mr. Ping. Your cuisine is still our biggest love, but we should expand our horizons, right?" the simian joked.

* * *

They finished eating and talked about the beginnings of the village until it got dark. They finally stood up to prepare for a long next day in the academy.

Shifu approached Po. "May I speak with you?" he asked uncertainly.

Po looked at him for the first time that day and pondered what to say.

"Master Heng?" Tigress said anxiously, looking out through the window. "Something's happening in the village."

The giant panda looked outside too. "What the hell?.."

The pandas living in the Hideout were hidden in their houses, but the paths down there were full of some dark creatures.

"What's going on?" the warriors approached the windows trying to see something.

"Was someone following you to the Hideout?" Master Heng asked.

"That's impossible. I would have heard them." Shifu said.

The panda went outside and they all left the building after him. He looked around in the dusk.

There were wolves. Almost everywhere; in the village, on the mountains surrounding the valley, and on the plain between the hill and another hidden entrance to the valley. And there among them stood a blue peacock with an impressive long, green tail, dressed in a dark blue robe. The warriors gaped at them in shock.

"Greetings, Grand Master Heng." the bird spoke with a smirk.

Heng couldn't hide the devastated look on his face. He hadn't seen a peacock since the genocide. "How... did you... find us?"

"I have my methods."

"Who are you?"

"Grand Master Shifu in the flesh." the peacock said mockingly. "What a nice 'surprise'. But let's get to the point. I am Lord Shan. Do you remember Lord Shen from Gongmen? He was my cousin."

"Well... shit." Mantis commented.

Tigress tried to count the wolves. How many of them could there be in the dark? Fifty? Seventy? She couldn't determine.

"And what do you want from us? You'll slaughter every single panda in this village like he tried over twenty years ago? Why won't you just leave us alone?!"

"I don't want a bloodshed." Shan said in a fake offended tone. "You have to understand us. My dear cousin had to massacre your people, because he didn't know who he was looking for. But now we all know. I want only your son. Give me the Warrior of Black and White and you'll never see me again."

Shifu's heart fell into his stomach. _No.._

"What makes you think I'd do that?"

"I think it's obvious. The Dragon Warrior is going with us, otherwise I'll kill these brats and their useless parents." Shan made a gesture and the wolves parted, showing a few panda children and the crying adults. The wolves held knives to their necks. "I promise - when the Dragon Warrior surrenders, I'll release them. I'm counting to three. One..."

Master Heng tried to think fast. "We must consider who is less significant."

"Excuse me?..."

"We need to put our heads together."

The peacock looked confused for a second or two. "You have ten minutes. After that they are all dead."

The warriors, Heron and Mr. Ping entered the building.

"Lord Shan... I don't think it's a good idea.." the big, dark Wolf Boss with orange reddish eyes said, standing near the bird.

"Take it easy, Qiu. They are defenceless."

Mr. Ping slowly started to panic. "Po, what do they want from you?! You can't go with them!"

Po lowered himself to his level and embraced the goose comfortingly although he didn't know what would happen that evening. "Don't worry, dad. They won't harm me."

Tigress spoke to Heng. "Where is the academy? Maybe we manage to call for help."

"It's too far from here and deep in the mountains. There is not enough room for such a school and training grounds in the valley."

"Master Heng, did you notice?" Ming said. "Shan didn't look at Po. He doesn't know who the Dragon Warrior is."

"That's true! He doesn't assume Po could be the Dragon Warrior, since he's the shortest one of you all." Viper agreed.

_"I'm waiting for you, Dragon Warrior!..."_ Shan's voice reverberated through the valley.

"Master, I can go with them!" Tai Lung offered.

"No way!"

"The real Dragon Warrior is more important than I am!"

Shifu tried to concoct something. _Think! What would Master Oogway do?_ He accidentally met Heron's eyes. She was the only one perfectly calm among them and his heart froze as she was looking at him, burning holes in his eyes.

Po listened to his friends' desperate attempts to save him at all cost. _No one will give his life for me._ He stood up and ran outside.

Shifu ran after him. "Po, don't do this!"

"I'm the Dragon Warrior!"

Tai Lung joined him. "That's not true! I am!"

The rest of the warriors and the birds left the building again.

"Stop saving my ass! I'm the Dragon Warrior!" Chen appeared beside them.

Shan smirked and Heron smiled involuntarily. Shifu glared at her. "She's a traitor!"

The warriors looked towards her shocked. She took a step back, spread her wings calmly and flew away, just to land beside Lord Shan. "He's the Dragon Warrior!" she pointed at Po.

"Heron?..." Master Heng looked at her devastated like everyone. "You've been.. spying on us?.." there was a long moment of silence, because she wasn't going to answer. "Why?... I saved your life. You were a beggar, when I met you!" Heng started to get mad with her.

"A beggar? I don't think so.. I'm just a good actress." she smirked and they didn't see until now how empty and horrific her round eyes were.

Crane couldn't believe what had happened. "I thought you..."

"What? That I like you? Oh, please! You were just funny but it doesn't change the fact that you're nothing. I'd never change my plans for someone like you!"

Viper was furious. "I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Very touching. Come here." Shan spoke to Po.

"No. First, you have to release them."

"Boy, if I release them and you don't come here, I will have to start another genocide and believe me, I will not hesitate to do so."

"But if I surrender, how can I be sure you'll release them and leave the village?"

"You have to trust me. I don't want them."

"Let's do this in my way. I'll be coming to you and you'll be releasing one hostage for my every step towards you so they can run straight to the masters and be safe."

"I agree."

Po made a step forward, but no hostage was freed. "You promised to let them go!"

"You heard him." Shan said to Qiu. The wolf released the child he had held and the little panda ran towards the strange travelers he had seen a few days ago as his parents told him to.

Po made another step and one of the children joined the boy and the warriors. The Five, Mr. Ping and the pandas could only watch as Po was moving away from them and the group of the released hostages was growing in the building behind them. Master Heng, Mr. Ping and Shifu wanted to do something, anything, but how could they say 'take them and go away'?

Master Shifu stepped forward. "Stop it! He didn't defeat Shen. I showed him how to destroy his fleet! Had it not been for me, he wouldn't have been any challenge for Shen and his wolves!"

"Don't worry, Master Shifu, I assure you that you'll suffer more than he will."

There was the last hostage left. Po made another step forward and when the prisoner was running away, the wolves surrounded Po quickly and shackled his wrists and ankles with a thick chain and blindfolded him.

The warriors got ready for fight.

"Thanks Heng! We're leaving for now. Oh, and one more thing: don't follow us, otherwise your son will be dead before you manage to cut down one of the wolves. We have our eye on you!"

The soldiers threw something to the ground and one by one they disappeared in thick clouds of smoke along with Po, Lord Shan and Heron, leaving the pandas and Po's friends and family stunned and devastated.

* * *

(A.N.) Lord Shan (Chin. mountain), Qiu, (Chin. autumn).**  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations.** **I own only the OCs.**

* * *

They dragged him far away from the Panda Village, deep through the mountains, and he was stumbling over rocks among the wolves' snorts of laughter until they stopped somewhere and someone suddenly struck him down on the ground. Po felt a painful strike on his back and found it difficult to breathe, but tried not to scream. In the first moment, he didn't know what was that and he didn't see anything besides the dark. The goons laughed as he felt another strikes on his body and horrible sounds of a whip. He tried to crawl away, but the peacock's soldiers were everywhere. His limbs began to shake in pain and the panda felt that his blindfold was wet with his tears and his fur splashed with his warm blood.

"Kid, it's time to make a man out of you!" Qiu shouted to one of the soliders and handed him the whip. "Make him scream." he said and the rest of the soliders agreed.

The young wolf could be fifteen or sixteen. He took the whip obediently, and after a little hesitation he struck the panda again. Whipping was a strangely addictive action, and his hands made the whip strike the panda faster and faster. Po couldn't hold back his screams anymore and started to cry.

"Slowly!" Qiu stopped the teenager. "He's supposed to feel every strike individually, otherwise he'll just black out and it wouldn't be so funny. Right, boys?" he spoke to his comrades. They burst out laughing again.

The young wolf tried to strike the prisoner again, but Po, although still blindfolded and manacled, caught the whip and yanked it out of the wolf's hand.

"Whoa! He's showing his teeth!" Qiu stepped on Po's wrist and took the weapon back from him.

As the wolves started beating the panda, the kid forced his way through the crowd and escaped the sick spectacle.  
He went to the wolves' wooden quarters hidden in Shan's hideout and sat down on the floor. He pressed his paws to his ears not to hear the prisoner's agonized screams.

* * *

When the families of the pandas went back home, Master Heng leaned against the wall in the Palace and slid down to the floor. Mr. Ping yanked at his arm.

"Do something!" he cried and looked around the warriors. "You can't let Shan go!"

"So this is why she insisted on taking the weapons away from here." Ming said angrily. "Bitch! She said that we should make more room for you!"

"Master Heng, focus." Shifu spoke to the panda. "What do you know about these mountains? They can't be far from here."

"There is nothing outside the village." Chen explained. "We've looked for the lost pandas many times before. There are only two places to stay: the Hideout and the valley in which the school is. There are only steep, misty slopes, the river and trees outside. I'm sure they are escaping the mountains right now."

"No. They must be somewhere near. Shan said 'we have our eye on you'." Tigress remarked.

"She had been telling him everything for the last months..." Heng said as if to himself. "Shan knows everything about us... How could I be so blind?!"

Shifu sat down beside Heng. "How did you meet Heron?"

"I was coming back from my visit in the school when I met her. She lay on the ground, starving, so I took her in. She claimed to be a homeless widow with no family, migrating south to seek her fortune, so I offered her to live here and work for us. I wasn't suspicious because we hadn't had any guests since we'd settled here. She was happy and swore loyalty to us. It was about nine months ago..."

"Nine months ago? Po defeated Shen and his navy back then."

"...soon after that I had my vision so I told her to fly and collect informations about Shen. And she was deluding us for nine months."

"That's strange." Tigress cut in. "If she knew Shan from the beginning, why didn't they attack the Hideout until now? Why didn't they attack the Valley of Peace if they wanted the Dragon Warrior?"

"I have no idea..." Master Heng buried his face in his paws. "They could kill us all at any time. Now they have Po. And it's my fault."

* * *

Someone forced Po to kneel down and took off his blindfold. Po looked around the room he was in now. It was a chamber-like cave with lit candles and a wooden thronelike armchair decorated with peacock feathers. The foul stench of something indeterminated that struck him almost made him vomit. When his eyes got used to the light, he saw panda pelts hung on the walls. He stared at them shocked. _So this is what happened to the lost pandas._

Shan unfolded his tail to sat down in his armchair. He seemed to be used to the smell of the furs. "Do you know why you are here? I believe that every prisoner sentenced to death has the right to know why they are going to die."

Po didn't answer trying to endure his pain and wondering if the pandas had been skinned alive.

"You've probably wondered why you managed to defeat Shen so easily. Well, nine months ago my dear cousin sent me half of his small army and some of his cannons to lay siege to the capital in case he was killed by the Warrior of Black and White. He was supposed to arrive at any time, so according to his plan, we began the attack and then one of his wolves found us and said that Shen had been killed by some stupid panda and there would be no reinforcements. The imperial army must have received the same message, so they attacked us. Soon, we had to retreat, leaving our cannons. We fled far west and guess what Heron happened to find flying over these mountains?"

"The Hideout?.."

"Exactly. We were more lucky than we thought. She found us a perfect hideout here and infiltrated the village. Then your daddy had his famous vision and sent her to find you, and she was pretending to do so, simultaneously buying time we needed to rebuild the cannons. And you know what?..." the bird put his wings on his face, chuckling. "It turned out that it was just impossible to build even one cannon in these damned mountains! So we didn't wait any day longer and because spring had arrived, Heron told Heng that she had finally found you."

"You don't have any cannons?.."

Shan ran his wing over his face and approached the prisoner. "No, I don't. But I invented something better. And... I have you."

"But I didn't kill Shen. I tried to help him, but he cut off the ropes supporting the cannon on his ship I had destroyed and he accidentally killed himself."

The peacock chuckled somehow maniacally. "But were it not for you, my family would have been the rulers of China almost since the battle in Gongmen! So what do you think I'm going to do?"

Po realised that Shan was completely unpredictable.

"Yes, I'll kill you." the bird said, guessing his thoughts. "But it won't be a short and easy death. Before I'm finally able to rebuild my army and resurrect Shen's plans to kill the emperor, I'll also crush your friends' hearts, souls and minds and then kill them all. Just think: why should I just kill them if I can breake their lives first? Why do you think Heron didn't lead you straight to me? Heng was supposed to meet you and come to love you! Do you know why I am doing this all?"

"Let me guess. Because you're insane."

Shen backhanded him. "No! I'm doing this because I want your family to feel what I felt when I learned about Shen's death, I'm doing this, because when they were celebrating your great victory I had to mourn my cousin! Shen was a great visionary!" he forced the panda to look him in the eyes. "I loved him! He was like a brother to me! When I was a child, he saved me from-"

"Lord Shan!.." Qiu entered the room.

"How many times should I repeat 'don't cut me short when I'm speaking!', IDIOT?!"

The wolf fell silent.

Shan sighed. "What was I saying? Nevermind... What do you want?"

"They'll look for him..." Qiu said unsurely.

"Oh, I'm sure they will." the peacock smirked at Po. "It's time to give them what they want."

* * *

Early at dawn, when everyone was on the edge, Ming, Chen and Tai Lung were preparing to search for the wolves and the Five entered the kitchen.

"We're going with you." Tigress said.

"That's out of the question. You don't know the Emei Mountains." Tai Lung spoke. "I can't let you lose your way-"

The feline warrior got really angry. "Are you kidding me?! We're not going to sit here any longer if our friend may be being murdered right now!"

"Well, you'll have to, since our master told us to go alone, besides, you're needed here!"

Master Heng entered the kitchen, lost in thoughts, a look of extreme tiredness on his face. "I'll go to the school and let the rest of the warriors know about-"

An abrupt noise outside cut him off. They entered the main room and met Master Shifu and Mr. Ping, who was scared to death. Tigress slowly opened the door.

There was still very dark, no one was there. There lay a broken wooden box in front of the door. Tigress looked around again and brought the box into the Palace. "Heron must have dropped this."

She lifted the lid. There was something white there. Shifu pulled it out of the box and unfolded it on the floor. Everyone gasped when they saw that it was a panda's raw removed skin from someone's head, arms, back and chest. Ming cried and buried her face in Chen's neck. He embraced her tightly and everyone watched in horror the remains, hoping that they wouldn't find any signs that it had been Po. Mantis covered his mouth with his 'hands' in horror, sitting on Monkey's shoulder. The goose and Heng stood speechless. Shifu knelt down on the floor and despite the dread constricting his heart, he picked the fur up in his shaking hands and tried to recognize it. It was hard, since there was no skull and no flesh inside the skin.

"There's a letter." Tigress examined the small parchment found inside the box. Tears appeared in her eyes. "Monkey, take Mr. Ping out of here." she faltered.

"Why?!" Before Monkey managed to move, the goose ran up to her and snatched the letter from the feline's hand. He started to read aloud:  
_  
The wolves said that the Dragon Warrior had been very tasty.  
Lord Shan_

_P.S. We skinned him alive, so you probably heard his screams._

Shifu's vision blurred when he heard Mr. Ping's hysterical cry and his accusations towards Master Heng.

The giant panda stared at the fur shocked. He couldn't breathe and took a few steps back until he found himself in the kitchen and leaned against the table. In the next second he knocked everything off the table in rage. The spices, fragments of vegetables, knives and bowls of rice fell and broke, spilling their content on the floor. Chen, Tai and Ming rushed to their master only to find the panda crying in despair on the floor, beside the overturned table.

Shifu didn't hear that; he had fallen on the floor unconscious.

* * *

(A.N.) No flames. Or I'll kill Shifu.


	11. Chapter 11

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations. I own only the OCs.  
**

* * *

Shifu woke up in his bed with a horrible headache. It was still dark. Still or again. Tigress was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked in the silence.

The red panda was feeling as if he were intoxicated but still hoped that everything had been a bad dream. "How is Mr. Ping?" he whispered.

Tigress's expression said everything. "He's asleep. Monkey and Mantis forced him to drink some strong herbs... Chen, Ming and Tai are cleaning up the kitchen..."

"Why?..."

"Master Heng smashed it up yesterday, when..."

Shifu turned himself over and closed his eyes. "Leave me alone."

"Master, you shouldn't be alone now.." she said and touched his arm.

"I said 'LEAVE'."

Tigress left Shifu's room quickly with tears in her eyes and after closing the door, she heard his sobs although he had covered his head with his blanket.

The red panda lay weak, completely destroyed, crying like a child. He felt his fever growing. Shifu clutched his head as his tears soaked his face and pillow. In his mind's eye, he still saw Po's smile, the smile that had soothed his heart so many times before.

He saw Po's big paws holding his tiny hand on their first day in the Hideout.

Then the faraway gaze from the evening before he died.

And all those atrocities he imagined they had done to him.

The red panda burst into sobs again, shuddering and wishing for death, for he knew that he would live feeling guilty for humiliating Po before his death from now on.

And he would never tell him that he was sorry.

He didn't resemble a grand master with his broken soul anymore.

* * *

Master Heng finally came back to the main room, with tears still flowing from his eyes, or rather from his broken heart. He folded Po's remains with the utmost respect and wrapped them in a white cloth.

The next day they buried Po among the blossoming cherry trees in the garden. A local stone mason had given them a headstone with Po's names and titles and a dragon carved in it.

Po's friends and family gathered for his funeral, but every inhabitant in the village was dressed in white that day.

Shifu was barely aware of what was happening in the garden. He didn't want to believe that it was their farewell. Mr. Ping stood with his head down and tears were flowing down his beak. The warriors almost didn't talk. They returned to the house and sat in the silence of their rooms, because no words could describe their feelings.

Viper was in the main room when Crane entered and hugged her comfortingly without a word. She leaned her forehead against him, but she wasn't sure who was comforting who after Heron's treachery.

Mr. Ping couldn't think of the Valley of Peace and his restaurant anymore. It was pointless to return home and running his family business again, as if he had never had a son. Without Po his life didn't make any sense.

It got dark again, and they were completely unaware that the precious time was running out...

* * *

Meanwhile, deep south in the Emei Mountains, a shackled prisoner woke up in his wet, cold and dark cell. He heard someone approaching the bars. He recognized quiet steps of a wolf and closed his eyes tightly.

_No, please. Not again..._

The wolf squatted down trying to see the prisoner's face in the dim light of the torches lit along Shan's hideout.

_Maybe if he sees that I'm asleep he'll leave me alone._

He couldn't see the panda's face but hoped he would hear. "I'm sorry."

The panda opened his eyes.

"I tried to be like them, but don't want it anymore." the person in the dark whispered.

Po pulled himself into a sitting position with effort. He saw the young wolf with warm, yellow eyes. "Who are you?"

"I'm Deshi."

They didn't say anything for a moment in the dead silence of the night. "Is there anything I can do for you?" the wolf said again.

"Yeah, go to the village and tell the pandas everything you know about Shan's hideout and his plans."

"I can't do that. The hunters are keeping an eye on the region."

Po sighed. "So you can't do anything for me."

Deshi lowered his eyes.

"What are you doing here with them?" Po asked again.

"Qiu is my uncle. He's my only family since my father's death."

"Your father?..."

"He was the leader of the wolf pack loyal to Lord Shen. Probably your friends killed him..."

Po remembered the wolf who had given him a hard punch in the stomach back in Gongmen. "I met him. But he wasn't killed by the kung fu masters. Shen threw a knife at him, because he refused to fire one of the cannons at us when we were very close to the wolves, fighting them. Your father acted like a hero, although he didn't want to become one."

Deshi was speechless and didn't look at Po for a while, thinking of what he had heard. The panda realised how pathethic his words must have sounded. "I'm not surprised if you don't believe me..."

The wolf finally looked at him. "I believe you."

"Maybe Qiu should know about that..."

"It's too dangerous to tell him. We have no proofs. They would just harm you again... and me."

Po sighed disheartened. _Of course.._ He leaned against the wall in his cell and closed his eyes again. "If you ever meet my family, tell them that I didn't suffer."

Deshi reached between the bars and touched Po's arm. "Hey, don't..." he realised how high fever the panda had because of the low temperature, moisture and his open wounds. "Po."

"What?"

"Take care."

* * *

"There is no time for this." Chen said, joining Ming in the main room that night. She looked at him questioningly.

"I'm going to find those bastards even if I need to traverse entire China. I'm leaving tomorrow at dawn. Don't tell our master."

She nodded. "I'll go too."

"Me too." Tai Lung said, appearing suddenly in the room.

The three pandas began to devise their plans of search for the wolves.

"Nobody will kill a panda again."

* * *

(A.N.) Deshi (Chin. moral).


	12. Chapter 12

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations. I own only the OCs.**

* * *

Some noise woke Shifu up early in the morning. He had fallen asleep only thanks to Mantis' sleeping potion. The red panda's legs were weak and shook as if he hadn't used them for years. He put on his robe, left his room and paced the corridor. He could have taken Master Oogway's staff, he had forgotten it, anyway. The Palace was dead silent. He left the building, suspecting another attack, but there was nobody in the cool air outside. He went to the garden and slowly approached the grave.

It was still there, but Shifu felt as if he were in a bad dream. He knelt down before the gravestone and touched the characters. The inscriptions were so unreal to him, although he could see and feel them. He rested his head against his paws on the stone.

_Why the hell did I hit him?_ he closed his eyes as tears escaped his eyelids again. _And for what?_

_For kissing a girl and joking when he was drunk.. when his life was about to end.._

_If I had known..._

_I would do anything to see you happy with anyone you want._ he didn't notice when his claws dragged through the stone.

_How could anyone do that to you?.._

_You didn't deserve such a death._ he thought, feeling more tears running down his nose.

_I will never know what you tried to tell me._

_I love you.._

_Rest in peace Po._

Someone put a hand on his shoulder. Shifu quickly wiped his tears away. Master Heng joined him. He looked as if he hadn't slept for a week.

"Mr. Ping was right. It's my fault." he whispered after a while. "Po could have stayed in the Valley of Peace safe... I dragged him across entire China and what for?... To meet such a fate?"

"We all failed him. You couldn't have known..."

"I should have known!"

Shifu saw that the panda's green eyes were red from shedding tears. "He's not suffering anymore." he said. He wanted so much to embrace the broken giant panda that was kneeling beside him. Shifu knew that there would never be a person who would remind him so much of Po.

Someone's steps sounded behind the two grand masters in despair. Mr. Ping approached them and suddenly collapsed on the ground. "Avenge him." he looked at the pandas. "I beg you."

Master Heng helped him to stand up. "You don't need to ask us for it."

Shifu saw something change in the elder panda's eyes.

* * *

It was a dark noon at Shan's hideout between two steep mountain walls, where trees were obliterating the sun. In the dark, at the end of the natural corridor was Po's cell. On the flat top of the western mountain was an archer's post with stairs leading to the wolves' wooden quarters. Not so far from the cell was Shan's chamber and a large stand full of various weapons on the left side and a passage leading to clusters of wooden huts on the right side, just like in the pass on the other side of the mountain.

Po had been fighting the whole morning, because the soldiers used him as a fighting toy; of course he couldn't win, for he was chained to the bars of his cell. Deshi wasn't there anymore. Po thought that the young wolf must have been only his imagination. And when he was too exhausted to stand up again, when his whole body ached from numerous bruises and the open whip wounds, he felt a heart-splitting fear as one of the wolves jumped onto him and tried to pull his pants down. "I've never fucked a Dragon Warrior yet!" he panted out to his ears.

"Not now, retard!" Qiu suddenly appeared and dragged the wolf away by the neck.

The Boss took the chains and pulled Po towards the cave. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty, you have an audience with Lord Shan!"

* * *

"I told you that I was going to break your friends' souls before killing them, remember?" Shan said, but he didn't wait for an answer. "You see... just before your arrival at the village, a young male panda wandered too close to our little fortress. We had to kill him and my wolves ate him..."

Po almost vomited. _Cannibals! Even Shen wasn't such sick..._

"...I had a feeling that his skin might be useful in the nearest future so instead of drying it like the others, I ordered to put it in snow. It was still fresh, so I sent it to your father with a note telling him that the skin had belonged to you. Heron saw their grief. That's so sad..."

"What?!"

"I wonder if they will leave the mountains now, running for their lives again..."

"You bastard!" Po flung himself towards the peacock trying to hit him, as he felt a sudden strike of strenght, but he managed only to scratch his feathers, because Qiu and some other wolves kept him back from the peacock.

Shan burst out laughing. "Where is your inner peace now?"

"Better kill me now, before I manage to escape and rip off your head!"

"I'd love to.. but I have better plans." the peacock whispered darkly, not laughing anymore. "If I were you, I wouldn't try to escape if I didn't want my master to pay for it."

Qiu and a few wolves pushed the prisoner to his cell again and slammed the door loudly behind the panda.

Po sat down in his cell devastated. _Nobody will come for me._

_What they must be feeling right now?_

_Dad... He won't get over it._ the panda buried his face in his hands and a couple of tears fell from his eyes.

_Master Heng. I can't imagine how he must feel guilty.._

_Shifu._

_Shifu..._

_Fortunately, he was angry with me when I left the village. Maybe he still is.._

He heard someone's clattering steps nearby. Heron approached the cell. "Nice vacation, eh?"

Po turned around and looked at her with contempt. "How could you do that to him?"

"Who are you talking about?" she smiled.

"You knew Master Heng for nine months. You knew who killed the pandas in the mountains, but still you kept your mouth shut. You knew that you were leading his son to his death yet you did that. How could you betray him like that? And what for?..."

She thought for a while. "I admit, there was something really sad about that.. But such sacrifices are necessary if you want to get what you want. Guess who will be the Empress?"

An abrupt half-witted laughter reverberated through the cell. Heron looked at the prisoner genuinely confused.

"Oh... you were serious..." he finally noticed. "You will never be the Empress!"

"Why not?"

"Because you can't give him children."

"So what? He doesn't even like brats."

"Don't you understand? Shan may hate children, but he surely wants to have his heir. The first thing he'll do after his victory is marriage to some obedient peahen with presence, from a rich or influential family. He's as proud as Shen, and as a heron, you'll be only one of his concubines, if at all."

Heron's smile disappeared. "That's nonsense... He loves me."

Po sighed. "He loves you in the same way you 'loved' Crane. You know.. If I were a power-obsessed peacock, I would use a heron in love with me to dispatch my foes, promising her the earth, but I would kill her immediately in case of any disobedience."

She stared at the panda too long than it was appropriate.

"Do you really think he loves you? He's a fanatic. Someone like him just cannot be loyal to anyone except for Shen and his sick dreams. Fly back to the village and warn-"

"I don't have to listen to you." She said and walked away.

* * *

"What does 'I don't know' mean?!" Master Heng shouted at Tai Lung and Chen. It was late afternoon and Ming hadn't returned yet.

"She wanted to go south so we chose to go north and west." Tai said, shaking with fear and sense of guilt.

"When did I allow you to leave the village all by yourself after Po's death?! If she's dead too, I swear..."

Chen tried to hold back his tears. "Master, it's all my fault, I convinced her to look for the wolves-"

Suddenly the door opened and Ming entered, gasping and panting. "Master Heng..."

"Ming!" Chen ran up to her and hugged her tightly. "Where have you been so long?!"

The female panda hugged Chen too. After a moment of an awkward silence, someone cleared their throat and Ming looked around the puzzled looks of the others.

"Master, I saw a wolf!... I couldn't come back earlier, because he was wandering around, collecting herbs, but I know where they have their hideout!..." she panted out smiling with hope.

* * *

It was dark again and Po was lying in his cell, shivering with cold and dreaming of a cup of hot tea. He wasn't sure if he should fall asleep, not knowing if he'd ever wake up again.

"Po..."

The panda looked up at his visitor. Deshi handed him a big cup of hot, herbal tea.

"What is this?"

"Trust me, it will help you. My father taught me how to make such a drink to warm up."

Po inhaled the fresh, herbal smell.

"Don't drink it all, it can help you fight the infections. Pour the drink on the wounds."

Po took a few big sips quickly. Pouring the warm drink on the cuts stung, but after a while the pain subsided a little and the water warmed the panda's body up for a moment at least. Po gave the cup back to Deshi.

"I can't give you a blanket.."

"Why are you doing this all?" Po asked.

"I don't know..."

"Really? I think that deep in your heart you know well."

Deshi didn't answer. After a moment he looked at Po again. "Aren't you afraid of death?"

"I'm too busy being afraid that someone will hurt those I love." Po answered, however surprised by the question.

The wolf fell silent. It came to his mind that if he were imprisoned, no one would try to come for him, no one would miss him. His father had loved him very much, but now the boy knew that he had no friends and no family, except for Qiu. But how could he consider someone so ruthless to be his family?

"Deshi, who has the keys to the cell and my manacles?" Po's words dragged him out of his thoughts.

"Qiu. But he holds them almost all the time."

"Is there a spare key?"

"Are you kidding me?.."

The panda sighed and put his paw on his face. "Sorry, I can think when I'm starving."

"Oh, wait. I'll try to bring you something."

Before Po could say anything, Deshi wasn't there. He returned after a couple of minutes and slipped a bitten loaf of bread through the bars. "This is all I found. We don't have much food."

"Is this why you ate those pandas?" Po asked, holding the bread in his paws and chowing down on it.

"That was... one of the reasons..."

Po finished his meal and the teenager stood up. "I have to go back."

"Deshi.." Po whispered.

"Huh?"

"Thanks."


	13. Chapter 13

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations. I own only the OCs.**

* * *

Shifu had a strange dream at dawn.

_Po sat in dark and complained about his fever and pain. The panda was worried and sad and he didn't look Shifu in the eyes. Shifu tried to hug him, but Po turned into the little plush toy found in his family home._

The red panda didn't understand the real meaning of his dream. He had been sick since that dreadful night when he had learned about Po's death. Po, as he believed, was dead and free of suffering so he assumed that he had dreamed about his own condition.

Mr. Ping hadn't been asleep since three o'clock in the morning. He remembered that day when his son had been chosen as the Dragon Warrior. The worst thing he had been afraid of was that someday Po would have to give his life for somebody. And the worst had happened. The goose found some slight comfort in being aware that his son had been a true hero.

In the morning, Master Heng sat down with Ming in the main room and gave her a couple of large parchments. "We need to know everything about that region. Since Crane can't fly there, you have to draw every single detail of the landscape and the entrance to their hideout.."

"Master, I know what to do and I remember everything." the girl assured.

Mr. Ping entered the room. "Excuse me... may I talk with you?" he spoke to the elder panda.

Heng opened the back door leading to the garden and left the room with the goose.

"I'm very sorry for shouting at you. I don't think the way I said back then. Po is.. was your son, too and you wanted only to see him." Mr. Ping said, walking beside the panda down the stone path leading to the broad garden.

"You know that I don't hold a grudge against you. I'd probably have reacted in the same way." the grand master said honestly. "How will we live without him?..."

"I think you should keep this." Ping said getting to the point at last and handing the panda the Dragon Scroll. "You have nothing to remind you of Po."

The panda took the scroll, pondering what to say. He blinked to hold back his tears and glanced towards the grave. "I lost him two times.. but nobody will take him away from me again." he looked at the goose again. "Thank you, but the Scroll should return to the Jade Palace. Po deserves to have his sacrifice honored with a shrine to him."

* * *

Shifu thought that he couldn't cry anymore, but when he was given the Scroll again, he had to retreat to his room. He sat down on his bed and unrolled the Scroll. There was no reflection; he saw that day when he didn't want to give Po the Dragon Scroll, now he would do anything to give it to him. But he had to roll the Scroll back along with his tears and put it into the casing. He understood how much his heart had been empty since he had failed his best friend.

_You will never know that I loved you, Po._

Shifu lay down, hugging the Scroll unawarely.

_You were too young for that._ he thought of his death, not bothering himself to stop his tears.

_The cherry trees have blossomed for you.  
You liked cherries, didn't you?_

He could still feel Po's arms embracing him.

Shifu gave the Dragon Scroll to Crane and told him to fly to the Valley of Peace and inform the masters of what had happened and what they were going to do. He asked Mantis to fly with Crane to keep him company.

Master Heng forbade them to tell anyone about the location of the village. He assured that whatever Shan had or was capable of, he knew how to defeat him.

* * *

Heron was anxious the whole morning. The bird went to the kitchen to find something to eat. Fortunately, there was no one in there. The wolves seemed to be very busy that day. She stared into the empty basket, where the last loaf of bread had been just a day before. Heron remembered those days, when she had been nothing but a servant. She had never told Shan that she was in love with him, but he had known it, somehow. She couldn't believe that Po was right, but why had Shan changed so suddenly and started to see a woman in her at the same time when she had started to be absolutely necessary to spy on the pandas and fulfill his plan? The bird finally saw that the basket was empty and she sighed annoyed. She had lost her appetite.

Heron came back to the chamber, when Shan was sitting at the desk in the corner of their room, writing something on a parchment by candlelight. She approached and embraced him. "Shan?..."

He didn't even look at her. "Not now. I'm working on the second genocide."

Heron sighed and stood back. "This is very important to me."

"...maybe some public executions..."

"Shan!"

"WHAT?!" he shouted turning around at last.

"Do you really want to marry me after you kill the Dragon Warrior and the others?.."

The peacock rolled his eyes. "Haven't I told you this already?"

"Do you love me?.."

"Of course, honey.." he said blankly.

"So what about our children?"

The peacock coughed and looked at her surprised and confused. "Don't ask me stupid questions, when I'm working."

Heron slowly understood something that was still hard to believe to her. "You liar..."

Shan lifted his head from the table to look at her again. "What did you say?"

"You... used me.."

He raised his eyebrows interested.

She felt her tears running down her small cheeks. "I gave myself to you... I did everything you wanted me to!" she said the last sentence loud enough for Po to hear.

"Don't make me angry.."

"...I should..."

Shan stood up and approached her slowly. "Finish."

She made a few steps back, but said nothing.

"You want to return to the village, don't you?" he asked. "Do you know what the punishment for treason is? Can you imagine what Heng will do to you, when you show up in the Hideout again?"

She felt the wall behind her. "He won't kill me."

"Hm.. You're right."

Heron flung herself towards the door, but Shan grabbed her by the throat and squeezed, pinning her to the wall. "I'll do it."

She struggled to suck in air and tried to scratch him, but her claws were too small and only sank into his thick, blue feathers. She was still crying when her body started to twitch uncontrollably and the last thing she saw in her life were his frightening black eyes. He choked her until her wings fell to her sides limply and she wasn't showing any signs of life.

Shan threw her body on the ground in front of his chamber when one of his soldiers was passing the door. The wolf halted dead in his tracks as the white bird's body dropped right before him.

"Ah, Deshi! Funny that I'm meeting you here right now." the peacock said, exiting his chamber.

Po's heart dropped to the floor, as he saw that scene. He hadn't even known earlier who the wolf was; he hadn't seen Deshi's face before, for they had talked only a few times, every time in dark.

The peacock stopped behind the wolf. "I've always known that the future of this country belongs to young, smart people like you. Do me a favor please, and throw this out." he glanced at the corpse.

Deshi stared at the dead body, frozen in shock. Po realised why the wolf had asked him that question about being afraid of death.

"My Lord, why is.. she.."

"She wanted to betray us. Can you believe it?" the peacock answered simply and went back to his chamber.

* * *

The new masters in the Valley of Peace didn't have too many problems with bandits and the villagers liked them. They were all shocked to hear about the Dragon Warrior's death and about Shan, but the masters couldn't leave the Valley along with Crane and Mantis to help them fight the wolves.

The warriors took the Scroll and made a shrine to Po in a quiet place next to Master Oogway's shrine in the Sacred Hall. They lit green candles for their panda friend.

Crane and Mantis, although depressed and tired after the travel at the highest speed, couldn't waste their time and they flew back to the Hideout.

* * *

Ming finished drawing the map leading to Shan's hideout. Master Heng had sent for the warriors from the academy, who knew what had happened and what Master Heng was planning, and they arrived in the evening with various weapons. The warriors from the Valley of Peace were surprised by them. It turned out that Master Heng's students were much bigger than the pandas living in the village, although some of them were women. And there was something in their eyes, that Shifu couldn't define. They set up camp nearby the Palace and waited for Heng's commands.

Shifu wanted to promise Po that he hadn't died in vain. He went round the corner of the Palace and saw someone by Po's grave. It was Misumi and Li Mei. They laid a small bouquet of wild flowers there and walked away. The red panda's heart constricted again.

* * *

In the middle of the night, Deshi, although scared to death by the thought of getting caught helping the prisoner, he went to the soldiers' makeshift kitchen, brewed herbal tea again and stole some dumplings. He snuck up on Po's cell and his eyes settled on the prisoner. The panda lay motionless and the wolf's heart sank. He put the cup of tea on the ground and touched the panda's shoulder. Po opened his eyes. "I'm meditating.. not to go crazy here."

Deshi sighed with relief. "Damn, you're hard to kill." he slipped the tea through the bars and gave Po a dumpling.

Po looked at the dumpling as if he saw it for the first time in his life. "Where did you find it?"

"The soldiers sometimes go to attack merchants passing the mountains. Today at noon, they brought dumplings, some rice and alcohol, so they are drunk now."

"That's great. You have to steal the keys, if the Boss and his comrades are asleep now, it shouldn't be too hard." Po said, eating the dumplings.

"I tried, but he had fallen asleep on the keys. I'd rather not lift him, he's a light sleeper." the wolf confided.

Po drank the hot drink and poured the rest of the tea on his wounds. "Listen to me, Deshi. If Shan finds out that you helped me, he will not hesitate to kill you like he killed Heron." he whispered.

"I know."

"I can't risk your life anymore. I appreciate your help, but you should escape and find the pandas."

"Are you nuts?! I'm not going to leave you here and flee like a coward."

"Don't you understand that you can bring help for me?"

"I'll get you out of here, I prom-"

Someone's steps resounded somewhere near them. Deshi's ears turned towards the noise. He grabbed the cup and disappeared in the dark.**  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**My favourite chapter. I hope I didn't screw it up too much...**  
**Here's what inspired me: **_www youtube com/watch?v=NCaH-qqTWpk_  
**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations. I own only the OCs.**

* * *

Master Heng knelt down in the sanctuary at sunrise. He meditated on the day before Shen had attacked the old Panda Village.

_He was coming back after a long day on the rice terraces. Ru was home, preparing dinner and Yu sneaked out of their hut. Heng picked the child up and hugged him. "Where are you going, little runaway?" he said before entering the hut with the little fluffy panda in his hands. Yu laughed, because he couldn't talk yet._

He hadn't known that the next day would look completely different. The day before Po's death was so similar. He hugged him again and called him his 'dad' for the first and the last time in his life. And he lost him again.

_You have destroyed my life for the last time._ the panda thought, remembering those he had lost because of Shen.

His friends. His family. Ru's family. Their child. Everyone had been killed. Even his master.

Master Lao.

He had warned him many times against darkness that could corrupt his heart. Heng had avoided becoming the next suffering monster only thanks to the compassion he felt for the other pandas, who had needed him after the genocide. He had found inner peace only thanks to the awareness that he would die someday too, like everyone he had loved. Even if he would never see them in the afterlife, he knew that someday his pain would go away like dark after night. The more he had suffered, the greater his inner peace had become.

But the murder of his long-lost son ruined his inner peace completely. _Pain can easily turn into hate, hate into evil, evil into..._

"Do we have enough warriors to attack Shan?" His dark thoughts were dissipated by Shifu's voice.

For a moment, he looked like he didn't understand the red panda's words. "We have twenty warriors from the academy, nine warriors from the palaces and sixteen pandas from the village volunteer to fight. That should be enough."

Shifu glanced at the warriors waiting patiently near the palace, studying the map. "Forty-five warriors? Against over one hundred soldiers? We don't even know how many wolves there are!"

Master Heng looked at Shifu a bit surprised. "Shifu... you haven't seen them in combat. Pandas are very peaceful creatures, but well-taught, they fight like demons. I thought you knew it, since..." They didn't want to finish that sentence.

"You said 'nine warriors from the palaces'? I thought we were all going to fight."

"You have to stay here."

"What?!"

"Shifu, you're sick. I can't allow you to go to fight in this condition!"

"I am not asking you for permission! I would go there even if I had to crawl and drag my legs behind me!" he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, putting hands on his face. "I'm sorry."

He didn't want to argue with Heng, but he couldn't imagine to stay in the village safe, when they all would be there, fighting for the memory of someone he had secretly loved. And to tell the truth- he didn't expect to return from the battle alive.

"In that case, stay close to Ming and Chen, Ming can give you first aid, tell her if you feel worse. They'll be fighting outside Shan's camp tonight. This is not the battle in Gongmen; we must not let anyone escape. And we.. don't have Po.."

"Someone has to stay with Mr. Ping.." Shifu added sadly.

"My students' friends - Li Mei and Misumi can keep him company. He won't stay alone."

_Who if not she?.._ Shifu narrowed his eyes when something came to his mind. "It's too easy.. What if it's a trap? Maybe Shan's waiting for us right now?"

"The peacocks... they are so similar to each other. Shen was afraid only of the Warrior of Black and White, so is Shan. As far as I understand, the Soothsayer's prophecy was about Shen and Po, but they are both dead now. Shan thought that he was ensuring himself victory by killing the Dragon Warrior. Actually, he has only signed his own death warrant because this battle is between him and us. And he's in big trouble, if he thinks that we aren't a threat to him. He was very foolish to underestimate us enough to come here and murder my son, so now he will get a whole army of black and white."

"Don't you fear that Heron warned him about your skills?"

"No. She knows a lot about us, but she knows nothing about our style."

* * *

Shan walked up to the cell with a mysterious smile. "It's a beautiful day to die, don't you think, Dragon Warrior?"

Po didn't even try to answer. _Farewell, Shifu._

The bird chuckled. "I was going to torture you to death, but I changed my mind. You know that I invented an interesting weapon recently. I call it a nest of bees. You know... Shen's cannons weren't bad, but they had many drawbacks. They were too big, too heavy, and too slow. But imagine a long box filled with firework-like projectiles... oh, you'll see, anyway. I need to try it out on somebody. I think that the Panda Village will be great for a field test."

"Damn. you." Po said through clenched teeth, glaring at him.

"Heeey, I'm going to take you along with us tonight, you'll see the first victims of the nests- your friends, your daddies, your master..." he enumerated them with his flight feathers. "...and the others. But don't worry Panda, you'll be next."

Shan walked away laughing irritatingly, leaving the devastated panda in his cell.

* * *

At noon, Crane and Mantis returned from the Valley of Peace. Crane was exhausted and lay down on his bed in the Palace, trying to regain his strenght as fast as possible. Tigress and Monkey sat with the pandas in front of the palace. They refused to use weapons in the upcoming battle. They preferred to kick the wolves' butts with their bare hands (or legs).

Shifu left the house with Master Oogway's staff. He remembered the old tortoise when he glanced at his weapon.

_I am not worthy of your title._

_You would never have let that happen..._

His eyes shut tightly when the cruel images and sounds attacked again, raping his mind.

_Take care of Po, Master._

_Wherever he is..._

"Your students are going into a battle and you won't tell them anything?" some voice interrupted his prayer. Tigress stood there with her arms folded on her chest.

Shifu sighed. "I know, I'm the worst father and teacher of the year."

"Do you think that I don't care about his death? It didn't come to your mind that I needed you when you just told me to leave your room?" she said almost choking back her tears. "You're such a selfish monster."

Shifu couldn't look her in the eyes, his ears laid flat on his head. "I'm so sorry, Tigress.." he whispered. _I wish I could tell you..._

She lowered herself to his level and embraced him tightly, no smile on her face. "I love you anyway."

He embraced her too, realising that it could be their last conversation. "I love you too. Please, remember."

They left the village when it slowly started to get dark. The pandas took their weapons, armors and first aid equipment along with them. As they were struggling through the mountains, Shifu saw something unfamiliar in Heng's eyes and felt strange aura emanating from the other pandas.

"Crane, are you OK?" Viper asked her friend, who was walking beside her, a very dismal expression on his face.

The avian sighed. "It'll sound extremely stupid, but... I don't really want to go there.."

"Heron, I know... but we are doing it for Po, aren't we?" Monkey said.

"For Po?" one of the giant pandas asked behind them. "Hey, it would be a cool battle cry. Spread the word!" he spoke to their comrades.

* * *

Po sat in his cell, trying desperately to come up with an escape plan. Suddenly Deshi ran up to the bars of the cell, trying frantically to put something into the door lock with his shaking hands.

"Deshi, what are you-" Po shouted, eyes wide in horror.

Qiu struck his nephew down and and hit him in the face. "I knew that someone helped him, but I'd have never suspected you!"

Po grabbed the keys lying on the ground and quickly unlocked his thick manacles.

* * *

Shifu stared in awe at the furious pandas charging on all fours from various directions. The white fur on their faces loomed out of the dark like skulls when they appeared so suddenly, shooting with incredible speed and letting out horrifying animal-like growls. The demons of war. The nabbed wolves hanging around the camp ran startled towards the gate, taken by surprise. Thirteen pandas along with Master Heng, Tigress, Monkey and ten large pandas armed with tekko-kagi claws managed to invade the hideout and the door closed behind them.

* * *

Po pulled Qiu away from Deshi with great effort. The teenager got to his feet wiping the blood off his face. They heard wolves howling somewhere outside and stopped their fight for a while. The wolves were forbidden to howl, for their voices carried too far. Po could swear, he heard some distant voices calling his name. The terrifying noises and screams from beyond the mountain hit them.

"We're under attack!" Deshi stated surprised.

Qiu howled too and wrenched himself from Po's grasp.

"So this is how you repay me for my protection, traitor?"

"Shen was a traitor to our pack! He killed your brother for disobedience and didn't care what would happen to his wolves!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?! He killed your father!" he pointed at the Dragon Warrior.

"I didn't! Shen threw a knife at your brother, I saw it with my own eyes! Don't you see whom you serve? Shan killed even Heron when she tried to receive what he had promised her for help!"

A look of disorientation appeared on Qiu's face for a second. "If Shen really killed my brother... he must have been a traitor, like you." he looked at his nephew. "We've always been loyal to him. Don't you understand why? We have no future after the massacre. We have to gain power if we don't want to get executed or to die in prison! Without Shan everything is lost. There's no other way."

"There is always another way."

Qiu thought of something for a moment. "No. I will not go to Chorh-Gom. He's not going anywhere and you won't escape from here either. You've disgraced your family."

"I spit on such family!"

Another wolves appeared in the narrow passage leading to the quarters.

"Kill them!"

"Stand back Deshi, it will be easy!" Po said, getting into his fighting stance.

The wolves drew their long knives.

"Oops!"

* * *

Shifu saw one of the pandas deflect five arrows using only one move of his saber. Crane flew up high with Mantis and Viper and landed in the middle of the archers' post. They quickly disarmed five archers, for they were too fast to get hit. The wolves fell straight onto the pandas below. "Watch out!"

Suddenly Viper fell on the ground motionless.

Crane lifted her head off the ground. "Viper! Are you hurt?"

"It's-s so c-c-cold..." she stammered.

"Damn! We forgot she's cold-blooded!" Mantis said.

"Crane! Unlock the gate!" Tai Lung shouted from below.

"I'll open it, go find some torch for her!" the insect assured and jumped off the post.

Crane flew away, hearing 'shoot the bird!' somewhere around and returned throwing a burning torch on the post. Viper quickly wrapped herself around the flame.

"I'll help Mantis!" he said and flew on the opposite wall of the mountain, where the pandas fought the wolves in the multi-storey quarters, because the soldiers had barricaded themselves there.

"Take care of yourself!"

The wolves appearing outside still wielded the swords marked with Shen's red 'eyes'. The warriors fighting along with Shifu, Ming and Chen outside the hideout drew their sabers almost at the same time and cut their enemies as if they did that every day. The soldiers' hearts sank as they saw each one of the pandas wielding two long sabers.

No wonder, pandas were stronger than wolves.

Shifu suddenly understood something seeing their bloodlust; despite their culture, elegant behaviour and training, the pandas were still half-wild. And it made really fierce warriors out of them. Shifu knocked his opponent's feet from under him and froze for a while as his ears caught some familiar voice, faint like a hallucination.

* * *

Two wolves entered the post and chuckled seeing the chilled serpent on the ground. Viper uncoiled herself, hitting them in the legs and making them lose their balance and pushed them down the stairs leading to the quarters. She quickly returned to the flame, shivering with cold.

* * *

A loud, horrible hiss resounded through the hell in the quarters and burning projectiles spilled through the whole pass, filling it with choking smoke and lighting the dark of the night. Some of the rockets hit the mountain walls, some flew straight towards the pandas outside.

The warriors parted in alarm. Some of them couldn't escape; they caught the wolves they were fighting at that moment and used them as shields. The projectiles that hit the scared soldiers made horrible wounds in their bodies.

Monkey managed to duck his head in the last second and the rocket flying to him hit the wooden wall. "Are they celebrating?!"

The wolves must have been very desperate to fire the nests of bees in such a narrow place. Or that was just... an accident?

* * *

Shifu found himself near an odd thicket next to the gate.

"You won't get into there, rat!" Some wolf ran up to him trying to block him off and the red panda immobilized him instantly with a nerve attack. The soldier fell to the ground, still clutching his sword.

"I'm a red panda, you moron." Shifu answered, although the wolf's words had interested him. He went through the thicket and found another pass, almost free of the hell of the battle outside. Ming couldn't have known of that passage. He heard a fight at the end of the dark corridor. Little did he know who was fighting there. He looked around the strange place lit by some torches.

Shan left his chamber and saw the wounded prisoner fighting a pack of wolves that had surrounded him. The peacock turned his head to the right and saw the red panda examining the fake bush-like wall. Shan narrowed his eyes.

He made his way towards him quietly, picking something out of the weapon stand en route and unfolding his train to hide the rest of the corridor.

Shifu heard a metallic sound behind him and dodged a chakram flying straight towards him. He deflected it with his staff and accidentally sent it into the direction it had flown from.

Shan dodged the weapon in the last moment; the chakram hit his train and stuck in the vertical mountain wall behind him, cutting off a few of his feathers. The peacock chuckled irritated. "You'll pay for this!"

"No! You'll pay for Po's death!"

Shifu ran up to the bird and delivered a few blows with Oogway's staff to him. The peacock staggered backwards surprised by the red panda's speed. He unfolded his steel fan and sliced the air between them two, trying to cut Shifu in half.

"The funny thing is, I hate you even more than your student!" Shan said, cutting Shifu's arm and shoulder.

"SHUT UP! You'll regret every second of his suffering!" the red panda dodged most of the slashes ignoring the searing pain and bleeding from his arm, so the peacock folded the fan and tried to stab him. Shifu managed to pull himself back then he caught Shen's wing and kicked him in the face somersaulting backwards. He ran up to the bird again and hit him harder feeling his rage rise in him. Shan unfolded the fan and blocked his hits, but suddenly Shifu knocked the weapon out of his grasp with a forceful blow of the staff. The fan dropped onto the ground with a metallic sound too far from his wielder.

* * *

The sound distracted the wolves fighting their prisoner and Deshi, because Qiu was lying on the ground unconscious. Po took advantage on that and knocked one of the wolves out. He noticed his master fighting the peacock. "Shifu?!"

* * *

The series of the deadly projectiles had ceased and Tigress heard a loud creak in the quarters. "This structure isn't going to hold us any longer! The pandas are too heavy!"

"I know." Heng answered. "Take your friends and get out of here!"

"What about you?"

Monkey heard him. "We haven't found the peacock yet!"

"Now!"

The Five started to force their way through the crowd of the wolves and the pandas. Heng whistled loudly and the pandas began leaving the quarters too. When Heng's army was outside, he jumped off the storey and rushed towards the exit.

Shan's soldiers thought that they had started to retreat, but they didn't know that it was only a trick. The wolves regrouped and one of them commanded to reload the nests. The grand master knew that if the wolves still had bows, every single arrow was now aimed at him. It didn't stop him; he returned gathering speed through the pass full of dead or injured wolves and delivered a powerful kick to the main pillar supporting the wooden construction.

The wave of energy ran through the quarters, shattering the weakest points in the structure and it collapsed with a deafening noise, trapping the wolves inside the ruins.

* * *

Shifu didn't care about the loud noise on the other side of the mountain; he started hitting the bird faster, with ferocity he hadn't known. Shan realised that the distance between him and the weapons was increasing. He couldn't block the forceful blows with his bare wings anymore; he spread out his train and whirled around hitting the red panda with it. When Shifu fell on the ground, Shan quickly picked him up by his robe and threw him against the opposite wall. The warrior felt a horrible pain exploding in his skull when his head connected with the stone behind. He fell on the ground again, certain that there was no possibility to survive such pain.

_What was that?_ And he remembered; Tai Lung had hit him several times in the same place. _His_ Tai Lung.

Shan chuckled and wiped his beak with his broken flight feathers. "...I don't think so." He staggered to the stand full of steel fans, chakrams, swords, daggers and throwing knives. He took the guan dao, which had been resting against the wall.

* * *

"Help him!" Deshi shouted although some wolves appeared in the passage, after they had escaped the fight in the main quarters.

Po glanced at Shifu and at Deshi trying to choose one of them to save.

"I'm not afraid anymore!" the wolf assured and Po rushed up towards the red panda.

One of the soldiers ran after him. Po turned around the last time to punch the wolf in the throat and making him fall out cold. Deshi knocked out another wolf and took his dagger. The next four appeared and he opened the heavy door of the cell slamming the soldiers hard. He hadn't even known earlier that he was capable of doing so.

* * *

Shan turned his weapon over, pointing the blade towards the ground and lifted the guan dao above the red panda.

"You know, Grand Master, I've decided to close the Jade Palace."

"You wish!" Po caught his wings, stopping the blade in its tracks towards his master.

"What the...?" Shan looked at Po with an expression of utter shock on his face.

Po yanked the weapon out of his wings, delivering a particularly powerful kick to the peacock's chest and slamming him hard against the stand. Shan fell limply to the ground and the weapons scattered around him with a terrible noise.

Shifu was barely conscious when Po threw the guan dao next to the staff on the ground and rushed up to his side. He turned him over and took the red panda in his arms. "Shifu, are you OK?" he asked worriedly.

The small master opened his eyes only to see the scene from his dream. He looked up at his savior. "Po?..." Tears gathered in his eyes, but he couldn't hide his smile. "You've come for me?.."

"Huh?!.. No! Shifu, they didn't kill me, we're alive!"

The red panda blinked a few times, feeling deja vu, he tried to wrap his mind around what he had just heard, an astonished look on his face. Then he threw his arms around Po's neck as far as he could until his nose and paws sank into his fur. "Panda!" he faltered, hugging him tightly, smiling and forgetting about the battle as if they were safe. He didn't even notice Po's old wounds. "I thought.." He didn't want to finish, for he felt his soul and his entire world restored when Po hugged him back.

He didn't know how, he didn't know why, but after a moment he realised that he was kissing Po's lips and he felt the panda's lips replying, when suddenly Po pushed him away forcefully.

Shifu found himself on the cold ground a few steps from him and turned around only to see two knives stick into the panda's chest and stomach.

The second knife had been meant for him.

Shan stood in front of the panda, who tried not to fall on the ground and bury the knives further into his flesh.

Shifu could hear only his heartbeat instead of the shouts outside. He picked up one of the chakrams and threw it in anger at the peacock. Shan managed only to turn his head towards the red panda before the chakram flew through his neck.

His head fell onto the ground with a dull sound. The bird's body staggered for a moment and eventually collapsed too.

Po managed to fall on his side, breathing heavily. Shifu ran up to him, pushed the panda onto his back and removed the knives. He pressed his paws over the bleeding wounds and noticed the old long cuts on Po's body.

"Ming, Chen!" he shouted and looked around, but there was no one there. "Help!"

"Shifu, I'm sorry... I didn't want to insult you back then." Po looked up at his master and saw despair in his blue eyes.

The red panda stroked Po's cheek with the back of his paw, not to leave the blood on his face. "Don't think of it now." he pleaded when tears filled his eyes.

"I never kissed Misumi. I just wanted..." the panda whispered feeling some peaceful darkness overwhelming his mind.

"Po?.."

"... to make you jealous..." he confessed and his eyes closed.

"PO ! ! !"


	15. Chapter 15

**Happy New Year ! I'll never drink any alcohol again...  
**

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations. I own only the OCs.  
**

* * *

Shifu sat down among his students in the main room of the Tea Palace. They were tired, exhausted and silent. Rain was pouring outside. Tigress and Monkey weren't with their friends anymore. Shifu had just managed to wash Po's blood off his hands and put his robe back on after his wounds had been treated and dressed properly. Crane and Viper had fallen asleep with their heads laid on the table, Mantis sat beside them on the tabletop.

Mr. Ping and Master Heng, who had bandages wrapped around his right hand, went downstairs.

"He said your name." the goose whispered to the red panda.

Shifu looked at the goose and the elder panda unsurely yet he went upstairs. He entered Po's room and approached the unconscious panda in the bed. The room was lit by a single candle on the bedside table. Shifu sat down beside the bed and regarded his student. The doctor from the village had applied a healing ointment to his old wounds and bandaged them. And he had needed many bandages to do so. The blanket hid Po's stitched up knife wounds. Master Heng and Mr. Ping had washed the dried blood, tea stains and dirt off Po's fur. Fortunately, it had turned out that the knife wounds weren't very deep but he was very weak, so his previous injuries, exhaustion and blood loss had only made him black out.

Shifu took hold of Po's paw gently. His black fingers didn't move. Shifu's mind recalled the look on Master Heng's face when the pandas had finally found them. He had never seen anyone so relieved, surprised and heartbroken simultaneously, when the elder panda had held Po in his arms, certain that his son wouldn't survive the next hour. But Shifu didn't know that the grand master's peace and perfect silence had filled him completely in that moment, like he had once experienced it thanks to Po.

The red panda noticed the bruises on Po's face and felt like crying. He had been certain for almost a week that Po had been killed in the most cruel way, but his suffering at least had ended. Now he could only imagine what Shan's soldiers had been doing in order to hurt and humiliate him.  
And he felt guilty for hitting him as if he were one of those bastards.

"Please, forgive me Po." he whispered, stroking the panda's head. "I'm so sorry..." Shifu leaned down so he could lay his head on Po's pillow and feel his fur on his face. He planted a kiss on Po's cheek he had slapped that night before the kidnapping. He opened his eyes and.. pulled himself away from him quickly, as he saw Po's green eyes gazing at him attentively. Shifu's face flushed red and he ran his paw over his ear in embarrassment.

"I didn't want to wake you up. How are you feeling? I'll call your father."

"Which one?" Po joked, smiling slightly. "Your kisses are... very nice."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me..." Shifu replied still blushing.

"Whatever it was, you gave me the sweetest awakening ever." Po tried to look weaker than he felt. "Could you do it again, please?.."

The red panda hesitated for a while, but he leaned down again to kiss his cheek and he gasped when suddenly Po turned his head and caught his lips in a shy kiss. Shifu was surprised and his heartbeat quickened. Without a second thought he connected his lips to Po's and kissed him gently, as he had dreamed of it for so long. _So.. this is what Heaven tastes like..._ Po thought.

But Shifu pulled away when he remembered something. "We shouldn't..."

"Why?"

"We can't do this to Misumi."

Po sent him an utterly confused look. "And what does she have to do with us?"

Shifu sighed, looking away. " Po, kisses are promises. I saw you kissing her."

"How's that possible?.. I told you the truth- I didn't kiss her. I said that to make you jealous, because I wanted to check if you cared about me. I know, it was stupid..." Po confessed, feeling like an idiot.

"But I saw her with someone that night."

Po suddenly smiled knowingly. "Oooh, I know who you saw. It was Li Mei."

Shifu looked at Po dumbfounded. "But she's..."

"She's her girlfriend."

When Shifu's astonishment diminished, he buried his face in his paws in embarrassment. _Oh my..._ He suddenly understood why he had seen those girls always together. "And for the whole time I thought that you two.."

"I was drinking with Chen and they suddenly left the party. Now I know what they were doing." Po explained. "Woah, and to think that I actually admitted to kissing her. Sorry.."

"What about Ming?" Shifu asked after a moment.

Po chuckled and winced in pain.

"Don't laugh, your wounds are still fresh!"

"Don't you see how Ming and Chen are into each other?"

"But there are other girls in the village..."

"This is... what I tried to tell you." Po looked up at Shifu hoping that he would understand him. "I think I love you, Master. I was afraid that it was only a crush, but I feel... complete since I met you... when I am with you.. with my Red Panda... Shifu, why are you crying?!"

"Because I feel the same way about you."

Po gazed into the beautiful blue eyes and smiled happily. Shifu's exhaustion finally overcame him and he lay down beside Po's head on his big bed. The panda's smile fell as he remembered something.

"The wolves tried to rape me." he stated quietly as if he were confessing his guilt which would make him worthless to Shifu.

A few tears fell from the red panda's eyes and he stroked Po's head again. "Don't think of it anymore. You're safe now. And I'll never let anyone hurt you again." he whispered, burying his nose in the panda's fur on his head.

Po decided to do as he had been told. He reached out his hand and rubbed the place behind Shifu's ears. "How is your head?"

"It doesn't hurt anymore."

Po gasped in horror. "Where's Deshi?!"

"Relax, he's in the village. He brought the pandas to us after you had gotten injured. The doctor said that he had saved your life by giving you that potion. Fortunately he's much younger than the soldiers, so the pandas didn't want to kill him."

Po's hands started to shake when another question came to his mind. "Shifu... how many casualties are there on our side?"

"No one died. There are many injured pandas though. But... Tai Lung has been seriously wounded. The doctor is trying to help him right now." something hurt Shifu when he said that. "One of the burning projectiles hit him."

"The nests of bees..."

"What nests?"

"Shan's newest weapon. He wanted to kill us all with it last night."

"Well, he will never manage to do it. Tigress, Monkey, Chen and some other pandas have taken the captured wolves to Chorh-Gom Prison, most of them had been killed. I'm sure they will never leave prison after the murders they committed. Unfortunately, Heron managed to escape."

"No, she's dead."

"How did it happen?"

"Shan killed her, it looks like she had decided to betray him."

"Oh..."

"What about the warriors?"

"Crane, Mantis and Viper are here with your dad. Tai Lung is in his family home now and Ming is there with him. I think Master Heng has gone there too... He was here with your dad after your surgery. Some of the pandas have returned to the school in the mountains, others are still in the village..." Shifu felt very sleepy, thinking of what had happened during the past few days. Po couldn't keep his eyes open, too. Maybe it was because of the strong medicines the doctor had administered to him to relieve his pain.

"Shifu... Thank you." Po whispered, snuggling up to the small master.

They didn't know when they had fallen asleep, listening to the rain among the silence of the night.

Someone blew out the candle and left the room quietly, not to wake up the two tired pandas.


	16. Chapter 16

**I don't own any of KFP characters or locations. I own only the OCs.  
**

* * *

The next morning, Master Heng entered Tai Lung's room and sat down beside his bed.

The wounded panda opened his eyes. "Ming said that we had won. Is it true that Po is alive?"

The grand master nodded. "Shan lied to us. He didn't kill Po, only hurt him. But he'll be alright."

Tai sighed. "Unbelievable. So who did we bury in the cherry garden?"

"It was the panda who had gotten lost before Po's arrival. Zhu found Shan's plans and other skins in his hideout; the wolves had killed the lost pandas. We'll bury them in the village. At least now their families know where they are."

"That's most important..."

The grand master looked worriedly at Tai's dangerously peaceful expression. "You should be thinking of yourself now."

"Master... am I dying?"

Master Heng grasped his hand tightly trying not to let tears escape his eyes. "No! Don't you dare even say that! You are forbidden to die. Understood?"

Tai chuckled evilly. "This is what I wanted to hear."

"Was that a joke?.."

"Uh-huh." the student assured, smirking at the master's embarrassed expression.

Heng chuckled and pulled his hand away. "Son of a gun!"

"How the hell did they manage to carry us to the village?"

Master Heng sighed without a smile. "We had to tie a thick string to your leg and we dragged you by turns through the rocks in the mountains.. You were particularly heavy..." he couldn't stop himself from laughing any longer when he saw Tai's paling face.

The student tried not to burst out laughing too much and he frowned after a moment. "What happened to the peacock?"

"He... lost his head."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Tea Palace, Shifu woke up, hearing in his sleep that someone was going upstairs. He jumped out of Po's bed and noticed the blown-out candle, but before he could think of that, someone knocked on the door. Viper slipped her head into the still dark room and Mantis jumped from behind her, Crane followed him.

"Mr. Ping has fallen asleep in the main room, but we are worried about Po. How is he, Master?" Viper whispered.

"He's.. still asleep, we talked very long at night and he needs rest... well, I'll leave you now." Shifu said, before his behaviour started to be awkward and left the room.

"Wow. He's really alive.." Crane said approaching the bed along with the others. "..is he?" The avian asked his insect friend.

Mantis hopped onto Po's belly. "Wait, I'll check it."

"I heard that, Crane." Po murmured, opening his eyes slowly.

"Whoa, you scared me!" the insect smiled startled. The three warriors came closer to him. Viper climbed on the edge of the bed.

"And I've already told you 'Don't ever do that again'!" Crane said to Po reproachfully.

"Did you miss me?" Po asked smiling widely, still sleepy.

"To be honest, I'm a little disappointed, I wanted to take your action fig-" Mantis said, but Viper smacked the back of his head. "OUCH!"

"Sure, we missed your soup with no-secret-ingredient especially, besides you're the best victim of Mantis's and Monkey's pranks, so without you they would be now sort of.. jobless."

"Oh, stop it!" Viper hissed at the males, trying not to grin, but her body failed her and she burst out laughing. "It's a pity that Tigress and Monkey are still on their way to Chorh-Gom Prison." she said and smiled at the panda. "Well, they'll have to welcome you later. It's good to see you, Po."

"Good to see you, too." he answered grinning.

He knew that his friends were hiding great emotion and pain behind their smiles, when they saw him alive but in such a pitiful condition. "Talking of the soup... I'm awfully hungry."

* * *

Later on that day, Crane sat on the bench and hung his head. Viper approached him and saw sadness on his face. She climbed on the bench and sat down beside her friend. He sighed.

"I feel like an idiot after all that happened."

She stroked his wings with her tail. "She deceived us all. Even Master Heng didn't see her true face. Fortunately, you'll never see her again."

"I never wanted her to die."

"I know." she assured. "I know that even after all that happened, you didn't want her to get hurt. This is why you're the nicest guy in the world, Crane. And this is why I.. like you." she said and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

He slowly smiled when she wasn't looking at him.

* * *

As days were passing, Crane flew to the Valley of Peace again and shared the happy news about the pandas' victory with the masters. Chen, Tigress and Monkey had finally come back from the travel to the prison.

The warriors from the Panda Village had burnt the bodies of the fallen soldiers and confiscated the weapons they had found. The rest of the pelts had been buried and the stone-mason changed the characters on Po's headstone for the panda that had been killed in the mountains. Heng's wound had been healed. The warriors from the Jade Palace decided to stay in the village at least a few months longer to make sure that Po was recovering. Most of his wounds left scars on his body, but he was trying to do his best to clear his mind of them.

One day, when Po could finally walk, he dropped in the restaurant Mantis and Monkey had recommended to him. _'Dumplings and Dragons'? Awesome name!_ he thought, seeing the old signboard on the inn hidden in a bamboo thicket. There was someone familiar sitting at one of the tables in the dark.

"Hey, Deshi!" Po touched the wolf's shoulder, what startled him.

"Oh, it's you..." the boy sighed.

"Why didn't you come to the Palace? I thought you had run away from the village." Po said, joining the wolf.

"I thought I wasn't allowed to visit you."

Po sighed and facepalmed. "Gosh... how could you think that? Everyone knows that you saved me. By the way- thank you."

"You're welcome." he answered with sadness and pensiveness on his face.

"Is something wrong?.."

Po saw that something pressed on the wolf's mind. Deshi took a deep breath. "I killed Qiu." he stated finally.

The panda's eyes widened. That wasn't was Po had expected to hear. "But how did it happen? I thought they had taken him to Chorh-Gom Prison."

"Your master was screaming and calling your friends and I tried to run up to you, but someone struck me down and wrapped the whip around my neck. I knew who he was, but I stabbed him anyway. I just wanted to help you." the wolf confessed in the same breath, staring at the empty tabletop before him and Po heard guilt in his voice.

"Deshi... he tried to kill you."

"I know. But I still feel like a traitor."

"Can you tell me why you decided to help me back then?"

"Because their deeds were cruel and didn't make any sense to me. Because I didn't even share their lust for vendetta, since I had been born after the genocide. Slaying the Warrior of Black and White was never my goal."

"And you still feel like a traitor?"

"A little less." the wolf answered without a smile, though.

"I believe that betraying those whose deeds are evil is not a betrayal. You tried to help Qiu. He didn't want your help, but it's not your fault."

The wolf didn't answer, staring at the wooden table before him.

"So what are you going to do with your life from now on?" Po asked again.

"I have no idea. I always lived with the pack, now I don't know where to go and what to do. And I'm still underage."

"I've heard that Master Heng is looking for a new messenger. Maybe it's not a dream job, but you wouldn't have to worry about your future."

Deshi smiled nervously, glancing at Po's fur. "Thanks, but I think he hates me after I gave you at least half of these scars."

Po felt somehow strange; he hadn't thought earlier that others might feel uncomfortable around him because of his appearance. "He... doesn't know of _that_. I didn't tell him what exactly had happened at Shan's hideout.."

Deshi looked surprised. "Why?.."

"And why should I? You've already chosen a better life."

Deshi shook his head. "Is everything so simple to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You can't understand me, because you're not the one who has just lost ev... OK, maybe you can understand me. You lost your family once, the soldiers tortured you, they almost killed you, and you still believe that you can just live normally after that all? How?"

"It's called inner peace, dude."

The wolf didn't understand, so Po continued. "Everything you experience is a part of your life. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't do anything, because we all have the ability to act reasonably. You just need to learn how to come to terms with what happened. It doesn't mean that inner peace will make you immune to pain and fear. You'll still feel everything, but your feelings won't have the power to destroy you anymore. And no, it's not easy. But it's achievable."

Deshi sighed. "You know.. when I was burning Heron's body, there was a short while when I felt so calm inside. Normally, I would have just freaked out in such circumstances, thinking that the soldiers wouldn't build a funeral pyre for me if Shan killed me too. But in that moment everything was different, I felt calm. I wonder if I can ever return to that feeling, because I still have nightmares after all those atrocities I saw."

Po looked at the wolf sympathetically. Can anyone actually find inner peace without a real friend? Deshi certainly needed a friend, for he was truly alone with his problems. "My father mastered inner peace, he wouldn't deny you help."

* * *

Meanwhile, Master Heng approached Shifu, when he was training with Ming, Chen and the Five in front of the Palace. "May I have a few words with you?" he asked in a little distant tone.

"Sure you can."

They went to the shrine, where no one could hear their conversation. Shifu was calm, but he had a bad feeling for a moment when he was alone with the large giant panda, who was now piercing him with a penetrating look.

"I don't know how to say this..." the panda began.

"You have a problem? Tell me." Shifu offered, because he didn't know that Heng's next words would make his vision fade to black.

"Is it a common custom among the masters of the Jade Palace to sleep with their students?"


End file.
